The Ministry of Truth and Thailand’s Dystopian future

The Ministry of Internet Censorship Communication Technology (MICT) blocked more than half a million websites during its tenure under military rule. The blocklists were never revealed to the Thai public.

 

Created by the administration of Thaksin Shinawatra by publicly blocking just 500 websites, the succeeding military general and coup dictator Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s administration stepped up with MICT’s full-time censorship committee, under the guise of lèse majesté and defamation censorship. This strategy, in fact, was intended to block all political conversations and stifle dissent. Dissidents are not welcome in Thailand.

 

In order, perhaps, to rehabilitate its image as a censorship machine, the successor to MICT was renamed the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) in 2016 without public input. Government called this Administrative Reorganization of Ministry, Bureau and Department Act. There are lots of Acts but little action except changing the names to protect the guilty.

 

The newly-minted MDES was in charge of the National Disaster Warning Centre. Presumably, wholesale censorship is not seen as a national disaster.That would be wrong. We all self-censor to some degree to avoiding hurting the feelings of others but this does not lead to arrest, prison, exile or even death by hunger strike or extrajudicial disappearance. And what exactly is MDES’ Anti-Fake News Department. Who decides what is “fake news”?

 

Minister Prasert Jantaruangtong and Permanent Secretary Wisit Wisitsora-at’s first step is to block cryptocurrencies not licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These currencies so far are are OKX, Bybit, XT, CoinEx, and 1000x by IP address. Their apps will be removed from the Thai Google Play and Apple’s AppStore. The block will, of course, only work in Thailand not in web hosts in foreign countries. This is easily circumvented by VPN or changing the IP address.

 

This censorship directly affects holders of cryptocurrency assets in those exchanges. The ban could cripple their businesses by moving to platforms licensed in Thailand such as BitKub or BinanceTH. The risk is that more exchanges will be blocked by MICT MDES in future.

 

It’s also interesting to note that the Ministry plans to use its own artificial intelligence platform WebD to block so- called ‘illegal ‘websites. No surprise that WebD can work 3.1 times faster than officers to boost its blocking capacity by 70.7%.

 

Remember the block on YouPorn? How long did that last? Nevertheless, MESD plans to block 175 URLs every day! How did they come up with that arbitrary number?

 

The Minister states the number of ‘illegal’ websites to be blocked in Thailand is greater than 100,000 per month, ten times the previous 10,000. Those are big numbers. MESD and its minions will block social media that expresses and dissidence.

 

In October 2025, MESD blocked every major porn website redirecting to the following blockpage. The morals police with their minor wives to the rescue!

 

That gives us a view into our dystopian future ruled by AI overlords. Do you want AI to determine what you view? Police sleuths were incompetent enough at the job—now a computer can decide what you think.

 

On July 5th, the Division of Prevention and Suppression of Cybercrime Notification of the Electronic Transactions Commission on Measures to Prevent Technological Crimes for Social Media Service Providers following the Emergency Decree on Measures for the Prevention and Suppression of Technological Crimes will try to rein in...Facebook posts!

 

Getting onboard (of course) is the intolerant National Broadcasting Telecommunications Commission (NBTC). Its Deputy Secretary-General, Trairat Wiriyasirithal, controls Thai ISPs to enforce MESD blocking at source in order to “protect consumer rights, ensure public safety and maintain national security”.

 

They call that “content moderation” meaning only the moderates need apply. Good luck with that. But it sure is a mouthful, makes you want to spit.

 

Will MESD, unlike MICT, make their AI blocklists public so Thai citizens can decide if these URLs host illegal content? What will be put in place for citizens to request removal of URLs blocked in error? Or is this scheme one more scheme for bureaucrats to climb the political ladder for a bigger slice of the pie?

 

Feels like deja vu all over again!

 

Isn’t it bad enough the just-us system imprisons activists, sends academics into exile, thwarts abortion information and online pharmacies selling the morning- after pill, bans political parties that embrace change, and punishes politicians for doing their job?

 

All this is basic education, thinking for yourself, thinking differently. Don’t succumb to the status quo. We don’t need morals police in Thailand. Keep your hands off our Internet! 4.2 billion users worldwide suffered Internet censorship.

 

Do you want to be next? Did you ask for a surveillance society?

 

No censorship! No compromise!

 

CJ Hinke
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)

Meh.  Nothing much on the internet anymore ...

On 11/23/2025 at 4:00 PM, unblocktheplanet said:

 

 

The Ministry of Truth and Thailand’s Dystopian future

The Ministry of Internet Censorship Communication Technology (MICT) blocked more than half a million websites during its tenure under military rule. The blocklists were never revealed to the Thai public.

 

Created by the administration of Thaksin Shinawatra by publicly blocking just 500 websites, the succeeding military general and coup dictator Prayuth Chan-o-cha’s administration stepped up with MICT’s full-time censorship committee, under the guise of lèse majesté and defamation censorship. This strategy, in fact, was intended to block all political conversations and stifle dissent. Dissidents are not welcome in Thailand.

 

In order, perhaps, to rehabilitate its image as a censorship machine, the successor to MICT was renamed the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (MDES) in 2016 without public input. Government called this Administrative Reorganization of Ministry, Bureau and Department Act. There are lots of Acts but little action except changing the names to protect the guilty.

 

The newly-minted MDES was in charge of the National Disaster Warning Centre. Presumably, wholesale censorship is not seen as a national disaster.That would be wrong. We all self-censor to some degree to avoiding hurting the feelings of others but this does not lead to arrest, prison, exile or even death by hunger strike or extrajudicial disappearance. And what exactly is MDES’ Anti-Fake News Department. Who decides what is “fake news”?

 

Minister Prasert Jantaruangtong and Permanent Secretary Wisit Wisitsora-at’s first step is to block cryptocurrencies not licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These currencies so far are are OKX, Bybit, XT, CoinEx, and 1000x by IP address. Their apps will be removed from the Thai Google Play and Apple’s AppStore. The block will, of course, only work in Thailand not in web hosts in foreign countries. This is easily circumvented by VPN or changing the IP address.

 

This censorship directly affects holders of cryptocurrency assets in those exchanges. The ban could cripple their businesses by moving to platforms licensed in Thailand such as BitKub or BinanceTH. The risk is that more exchanges will be blocked by MICT MDES in future.

 

It’s also interesting to note that the Ministry plans to use its own artificial intelligence platform WebD to block so- called ‘illegal ‘websites. No surprise that WebD can work 3.1 times faster than officers to boost its blocking capacity by 70.7%.

 

Remember the block on YouPorn? How long did that last? Nevertheless, MESD plans to block 175 URLs every day! How did they come up with that arbitrary number?

 

The Minister states the number of ‘illegal’ websites to be blocked in Thailand is greater than 100,000 per month, ten times the previous 10,000. Those are big numbers. MESD and its minions will block social media that expresses and dissidence.

 

In October 2025, MESD blocked every major porn website redirecting to the following blockpage. The morals police with their minor wives to the rescue!

 

That gives us a view into our dystopian future ruled by AI overlords. Do you want AI to determine what you view? Police sleuths were incompetent enough at the job—now a computer can decide what you think.

 

On July 5th, the Division of Prevention and Suppression of Cybercrime Notification of the Electronic Transactions Commission on Measures to Prevent Technological Crimes for Social Media Service Providers following the Emergency Decree on Measures for the Prevention and Suppression of Technological Crimes will try to rein in...Facebook posts!

 

Getting onboard (of course) is the intolerant National Broadcasting Telecommunications Commission (NBTC). Its Deputy Secretary-General, Trairat Wiriyasirithal, controls Thai ISPs to enforce MESD blocking at source in order to “protect consumer rights, ensure public safety and maintain national security”.

 

They call that “content moderation” meaning only the moderates need apply. Good luck with that. But it sure is a mouthful, makes you want to spit.

 

Will MESD, unlike MICT, make their AI blocklists public so Thai citizens can decide if these URLs host illegal content? What will be put in place for citizens to request removal of URLs blocked in error? Or is this scheme one more scheme for bureaucrats to climb the political ladder for a bigger slice of the pie?

 

Feels like deja vu all over again!

 

Isn’t it bad enough the just-us system imprisons activists, sends academics into exile, thwarts abortion information and online pharmacies selling the morning- after pill, bans political parties that embrace change, and punishes politicians for doing their job?

 

All this is basic education, thinking for yourself, thinking differently. Don’t succumb to the status quo. We don’t need morals police in Thailand. Keep your hands off our Internet! 4.2 billion users worldwide suffered Internet censorship.

 

Do you want to be next? Did you ask for a surveillance society?

 

No censorship! No compromise!

 

CJ Hinke
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT)

I'm not Thai. My thoughts on this are meaningless in any significant way. It's not as though I can protest at the ballot box.

 

What are you planning to do?

Public awareness is key. People should know when their freedom of knowledge is being controlled.

 

Although FACT's petition closed in 2016, we got ~200k signers, not insignificant. What I find weird is the outcry over YouPorn censorship last year. This year ICT is blocking every major porn site & nobody speaks up. Maybe everybody's discovered VPNs. People are growing more apathetic, less inclined to speak up.

 

THat's he way authoritarianism takes over. People do nothing. No one apeaks out.

 

I should point out that govt does this in complete secrecy. No announcements are ever made about cewnsorship.

On 11/26/2025 at 11:54 AM, unblocktheplanet said:

This year ICT is blocking every major porn site & nobody speaks up.

Really? Sorry for my disbelief but I just checked and no issue getting to Pornhub without a VPN?

 

Whilst I don't disagree with your general message (as long as I understand it correctly) at least get your facts correct.......(or does that site not count.......)

On 11/29/2025 at 9:28 PM, topt said:

Really? Sorry for my disbelief but I just checked and no issue getting to Pornhub without a VPN?

 

Unless you live in the USA its fine.

 

Wonder how the OP feels about the US censorship during the Biden years.

4 hours ago, Yagoda said:

Unless you live in the USA its fine.

 

Wonder how the OP feels about the US censorship during the Biden years.

Link, please.

On 11/29/2025 at 9:28 PM, topt said:

Really? Sorry for my disbelief but I just checked and no issue getting to Pornhub without a VPN?

 

Whilst I don't disagree with your general message (as long as I understand it correctly) at least get your facts correct.......(or does that site not count.......)

Top, the censorship situation here is volatile. It cannot be centrally implemented but relies on the ISPs. IOW, here today, gone tomorrow.

30 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Link, please.

to what? Pornhub?

22 hours ago, Yagoda said:

to what? Pornhub?

I was unaware the last administration blocked Pornhub.