Thailand asks Facebook to block 60,000 accounts on lese majesté charges
Thailand’s ICT Ministry told Facebook to block more accounts with suspected lèse majesté contents: 26,000 URL in Aug-Sept and 60,000 URL in Oct-[Nov]. Local Facebook users risk violating the computer law unknowingly by pressing the “like” or “share” button included with posted comment on anti-monarchy messages on Facebook, Thailand’s Information and Communication Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap said.
Thailand’s ICT Ministry told Facebook to block more accounts with suspected lèse majesté contents: 26,000 URL in Aug-Sept and 60,000 URL in Oct-[Nov]. Local Facebook users risk violating the computer law unknowingly by pressing the “like” or “share” button included with posted comment on anti-monarchy messages on Facebook, Thailand’s Information and Communication Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap said.
The ICT Minister is advising Thailand’s Facebook users to use the “like” button cautiously as per the Bangkok Post:
Local Facebook users risk violating the computer law unknowingly by pressing the “like” or “share” button included with posted comment on anti-monarchy messages on the most popular social networking site, Information and Communication Technology Minister Anudith Nakornthap said on Thursday.
Anyone doing so could be arrested on charges of violating the Computer Crime Act and committing lese majeste because the law prohibits the dissemination of content deemed insulting to the monarchy, he said.
Facebook button could land in jail in Thailand: Facebook users should not press the “like” button or post comments on lese majeste-related content.
Facebook users should not press the “like” button or post comments on lese majeste-related content.
They would then become involved with the group’s network. This may allow anarchists to use their personal information to create a fake Facebook account to support their cause.
Mr Anudith urged the users to press the “delete” button if they receive messages defamatory to the revered institution, to avoid breaking the law.
”Any user not deleting it may risk beiing prosecuted under the Computer Crime Act, because they will be seen as having a role in indirectly disseminating an unlawful message,” he said.
Then, also on Wednesday, the Democrats held a press conference, led by Deputy Spokesperson Mallika Boonmeetrakool* and shadow ICT Minister and Democrat MP Sirichoke Sopha as reported by Krungthep Turakit which BP has summarized below:
Mallika spoke about lese majeste websites on social media websites and stated that as a former advisor to the ICT Minister that has been following this idea for 3 months and she is found that there are more than 4oo video clips on YouTube or other websites.
She stated that under the Democrats that the ICT Minister coordinated with the Courts and the justice system and received good cooperation and the court acted immediately, but with the new government the ICT Minister is doing nothing including not to court. Even one of the people that we arrested, whose name is Nattawut D or whose online name is Mahabord Kahng Sai, who is one of the main posters of the anti-monarchy movement and is part of the red shirt movement and signed an agreement to cease his action, but then continued in the movement.
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Sirichoke stated that Yingluck is the head of the organizing committee for celebrations on December 5 for HM the King. He stated that if the government is afraid to take action “against its own” (ไม่กล้าดำเนินการกับพรรคพวกเดียวกัน) as it is known that some of them are red shirts that such thoughts were a danger to the institution.
This press conference was, of course, around the same time that Uncle SMS was being sentenced to 20 years in jail.
The European Union has said it is “deeply concerned” about a Thai court decision sentencing a man to 20 years in prison for sending text messages deemed insulting to the monarchy.
Ampon Tangnoppakul, 61, was last week found guilty under the kingdom’s strict lese-majeste laws of four counts of sending messages to the private secretary of then-prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in May 2010.
“The EU Delegation to Thailand is deeply concerned about the court decision to convict and imprison Ampon Tangnoppakul for twenty years,” the EU said in a statement released late Monday.
“The EU urges the Thai authorities to ensure that the rule of law is applied in a nondiscriminatory and proportional manner consistent with upholding basic human rights, including freedom of expression,” the statement added.
Ampon was arrested in August last year and pleaded not guilty to the charges during his trial.
Thailand’s strategic location in the center of ASEAN means it has access to the bloc’s 600 million consumers within a 3,000km radius, bringing vast opportunities for cross-border trade and investments.
