Internet

Google 100% compliant with Thai censorship requests

In Thailand, Gardner reports, Google “chose to comply with each request made by Thai government censors” – in essence, 100 percent of their requests

Published

9 years ago

June 25, 2012

Aishwarya Gupta

As reported in Siam Voices this week, Google has released its 2012 Transparency Report, which chronicles requests that Google receives, mostly from governments, to block material online.

As Lisa Gardner notes on Siam Voices, “Google bucked international trends in 2011 by blocking access to hundreds of web pages at the behest of the Thai Ministry of Information, Communication, and Technology [MICT].” One part of the report shows that Google has restricted or partly restricted at least 149 YouTube videos that the Thai government claimed was insulting to the monarchy.

You don’t like a website and you are an official in Thailand: just ask Google to take it down, no court order needed.

Unlike in many other countries, where Google supposedly makes its decisions to take down material after a local court issues an order (not that courts are infallible, but at least there is a court order), in Thailand it took down material even without court orders being issued, simply at the request of the authorities.

Overall, around the world last year, Google complied with about 54 percent of requests by governments and copyright holders to take down material. But in Thailand, Gardner reports, Google “chose to comply with each request made by Thai government censors” – in essence, 100 percent of their requests, which is a chilling number. Read More

Tech

How the Rural-Urban Divide Plays Out on Digital Platforms

It is one thing for entrepreneurs, whether urban or rural, to create and operate an online store, as some digital platforms have made it relatively easy to manage an e-store – even by using just a smartphone.

Published

1 month ago

March 24, 2021

Insead Knowledge

In the West, villages are emptying out due to the lack of economic opportunities. Consider Italy where, in a bid to attract newcomers, a handful of municipalities have turned to selling houses for €1.

(more…)

Ecommerce

Thailand’s internet economy to hit US$53 billion in 2025

New users in Southeast Asia are coming online at a blistering pace, adding 40M new Internet users this year alone compared to 100M between 2015 and 2019 and 70% of the region’s population is now online.

Published

6 months ago

November 11, 2020

Abhishek Prakash

Internet usage in Southeast Asia continues to multiply, with 40M new users this year alone

Southeast Asia’s Internet sectors continue to see strong growth, hitting $100 billion in 2020, and are on track to cross $300 billion by 2025 stated a report by Google, Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings and business consultants Bain & Co.

(more…)

Ecommerce

Southeast Asia’s internet economy hits $100 billion

The two pacesetters in the region are Indonesia and Vietnam, which lead the pack with growth rates in excess of 40% a year.

Published

2 years ago

October 24, 2019

Zhong Li

The internet economies in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines are growing by between 20% and 30% annually, with no signs of slowing down, according to Google and Temasek multi-year research program.

(more…)