Facebook misses deadline to block sites deemed insulting to monarchy

PHUKET: Facebook (FB) has not blocked more than 100 sites deemed to have insulted the monarchy or to have threatened “national security”, as requested by Thailand’s telecom regulator. FB cites the need for official court orders from authorities to block such sites.

FB users in Thailand can still access the sites despite the failed deadline to remove them.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications (NBTC) last week gave Facebook Thailand until 10am today to take down 131 URLs with content deemed insulting to the monarchy or threatening national security.

Failure to do so may result in legal action, the NBTC has warned.

Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the NBTC, went to the headquarters of the Thai Internet Service Providers Association (TISPA ) today to inspect whether the 131 URLs had been blocked.

He later told reporters that Facebook had informed TISPA it had not received official court orders to block the URLs so it could not make them inaccessible in Thailand.

He said authorities had only sent court order No 31 to Facebook without providing details, and that the US-based social media giant needs all the details.

Mr Takorn said the Digital Economy and Society Ministry will request court orders for all 131 URLs and it will send them to Facebook.

He added that Facebook had committed itself to cooperating with authorities when it received the court orders.

— The Nation