Thailand threatens to sue Facebook over critical content against the Monarchy

Saturday, 13 May 2017

Thai authorities have issued a strict warning to Facebook to take down critical content against King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun and his laws or risk being faced with legal action.

The authorities gave the social media giant until next Tuesday to remove more than 130 critical items from pages viewable in Thailand that are said to be threatening national security.

In a statement issued by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) on Friday, it was revealed that Facebook had failed to remove 131 of 309 web addresses on its platform.

According to NBTC,  it is a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen, heir to the throne or regent.

The statement added that Facebook formed part of some 6,900 web addresses which Thai courts have ordered to be removed or shut down since 2015.

Takorn Tantasith, Secretary-General of NBTC said that he had given Facebook until Tuesday to remove the 131 addresses.

'If Facebook still shows content declared illegal by court orders in Thailand, action must be taken against Facebook Thailand. They could argue that they are not involved (in removing content), but Facebook Thailand is still operating here,' Takorn said.

He said that the Ministry of Digital Economy would file a complaint with police next week to press charges against Facebook Thailand under the Computer Crime Act and commerce ministry regulations.

However, Facebook CE0, Mark Zuckerberg is yet to react to the threat of legal action against his platform.