The government of Thailand has contacted Facebook to request the removal of more than 10,000 of its pages that are deemed in breach of laws preventing the defamation of the country’s royal family.
The government has also warned Facebook users in the country that they risk prosecution if they share, comment or even like messages that breach Thailand’s lese majeste laws. Information minister Anudith Nakornthap even went so far as to suggest that users who see offending content and do not act to delete it, could be in trouble, according to the Bangkok Post:
Any user not deleting it may risk being prosecuted under the Computer Crime Act, because they will be seen as having a role in indirectly disseminating an unlawful message.
A number of Thai citizens have been jailed following messages on Facebook and, earlier this week, a 61 year old man was given a 20 year prison sentence after being found guilty of sending SMS messages insulting Thailand’s queen despite concerns around evidence.
Technically, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg could be prosecuted for illegal content published on the social network as website owners are held directly responsible for all content on their sites in the eyes of Thai law, as Mark Belinsky points out.
Action against Zuckerberg would be unlikely however, given the significant public attention that such a move would cause, and Thailand is looking to work with Facebook with its removal request instead.
Were Zuckerberg to be charged, his trial might run something like that of Chiranuch Premchaiporn, who is being prosecuted after comments insulting Thailand’s king were published on Prachatai, a Thai website where she is webmaster. Premchaipron is facing the possibility of a prison sentence of up to 80 years if she is found guilty.
This is not the first time that Thailand has liaised with international tech firms over content. Access to YouTube was blocked in the country in 2006 after Thai authorities located 20 videos that were deemed offensive to the royal family. The site was unblocked after Google agreed to make the content unavailable to Internet users in the country.
The rise in lese majeste cases this year prompted the United Nations Special Rapporteur to urge the government to look into amending its legislation to “harmonize [its] national laws with international human rights standards”.
It's because Thai people are in lack of democracy. F*** the royal family, I don't give a shit of these dictators!!!! Thai, WAKE UP!
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LikeIt's because of the THAI people are in lack of morality , I am Thai citizen that's see this problem for a long time some of those shit that they don't care about anything even in the real social those shit only live they life in dreaming not a reality when the technology is in hand of low morality people , so they use it with fun and dont care anything that's can make Thailand being Doomsday in everyday of people that's live they life in moralityAnd those problem are came from the bad communication, bad community such-as Commercial Television the Fukin Series story everyday in prime time
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LikeConversation from Twitter
jshe Thank you for the RT, Jenny! #HappyFriday (ړײ)ζ
legalnomads WanderingEarl At a cafe in Goreme, and guess what's playing? Yep, the same Turkish\/American\/British music videos!
adventurouskate legalnomads Well, if it makes you feel better, it's basically the same songs here in the US right now as well!
adventurouskate WanderingEarl Nooooooo!
creepcops the queen of Thailand?Insults..prison,ok. She swallows!hows dat!
.chuckcat2 creepcops unfortunately lese majeste is no laughing matter
Conversation from Facebook
@ Tim Das, Get their shit together? It's a flood, sometimes it does not clean up in one New York minute and well, the physical damages of a flood can sometimes be repaired quicker than the mental damages of potentially offensive media to the royal family's image, should it become soured in the eyes of their citizens. For older cultures, respect still holds weight. Besides, even during a natural disaster, it does not mean that the laws of a country do not apply. I am sure Mark understands that FaceBook can go global, but it must cautiously expand within international common courtesy.
@ Michael Brown, I do not think name calling of the royal family is necessary under the circumstances, as some countries still have laws & traditions which could be modernized, but it is understandable how they would feel compromised at the same time.
They can't get their shit together to clean up the country after an epic flood, but they have time to harangue Facebook over asinine defamation laws. Nice work.
Thailand's royal family are a bunch of cotton-headed ninny-muggins.