Facebook awaits court orders; Prayut says ‘no authority’ to suspend social media operations after deadline lapses

[webfact]

Facebook awaits court orders
By JIRAPAN BOONNOON,
WASAMON AUDJARINT
THE NATION

 

 

Prime minister says ‘no authority’ to suspend social media operations after deadline lapses

 

BANGKOK: -- THE MINISTRY of Digital Economy and Society staff has said it expects social media giant Facebook to block access to all 131 web addresses deemed illegal by authorities by the end of the month.

 

Facebook, meanwhile, was waiting for official court orders regarding the content in question.

 

Somsak Kaosuwan, deputy permanent secretary of the ministry, said yesterday that his agency expected that the URLs with content deemed illegal would be blocked this month. 

 

He said the ministry had sent 24 official court orders in English to Facebook – each one focusing on a single web address – in order to support its request for the company to block the URLs, adding that blockage could be done within a single day. 

 

The remaining 107 official court orders will be sent as soon as they are available, he said.

 

The ministry was waiting for official court orders from the Criminal Court.

 

Earlier, authorities gave Facebook until late yesterday morning to make the web pages inaccessible in Thailand while threatening legal action. However, none of the URLs were blocked after the deadline passed. 

 

The 131 web addresses in question were deemed to have content insulting to the monarchy, threatening national security, depicting pornography or being involved in fraud.

 

With more than 40 million users, Thailand is among the world’s most active countries on Facebook. 

 

Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general |of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), said yesterday that his agency had through local Internet service providers (ISPs) sent copies of 34 court orders to block URLs with illegal content.

 

In response, Facebook requested an official English version of the court orders before it proceeded with blocking the addresses in Thailand.

 

“Facebook is cooperating with Thailand,” Takorn told reporters yesterday after the 10am deadline passed.

 

Morragot Kulatumyotin, president of the Thai Internet Service Provider Association (TISPA), said yesterday that in response to the ISPs’ request to block URLs, Facebook asked for official court orders to prove that the content was considered illegal under Thai law. She said Facebook noted this was in line with international standards.

 

Facebook yesterday again referred to its stated policy in response to the authorities’ request.

 

“When governments believe that something on the Internet violates their laws, they may contact companies like Facebook and ask us to restrict access to that content. When we receive such a request, we review it to determine if it puts us on notice of unlawful content. “If we determine that it does, then we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory and notify people who try to access it why it is restricted,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

 

He was responding to a question from The Nation as to whether Facebook |would block access as requested by the NBTC.

 

Under its policy, Facebook will comply with a country’s request to remove content if it receives a valid court order, AFP reported yesterday.

 

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha admitted yesterday that his government did not have the authority to suspend Facebook’s operations in Thailand following its refusal to immediately block the URLs.

 

Prayut said the only thing the government could do was to seek court orders addressing specific URLs and have social media providers cooperate by blocking those web addresses.

 

“All we can do is ask for cooperation from foreign countries, the private sector and Internet service providers,” the premier said. “It’s because we have no better options.”

 

He told reporters yesterday that 6,000 web pages had been blocked recently by foreign social media platforms and search engines following government requests.

 

“We are now trying to work on the remaining ones and we must continue to work by asking for cooperation from foreign governments, the private sector and local website administrators,” he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30315427

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-05-17

 

[Toshiba66]

If it were not for all the noise about this yesterday I would never have seen what I was not meant to see.

Its all over the world now.

 

Seems to be so much talk of whats being or trying to be removed here these days.

Facebook

Beach Umbrellas

Beach food and drink

Street food

 

I am sure there are more. Seems to be a growing list.

[Don Mega]

I hope they don't use google translate.

Edited May 17, 2017 by Don Mega

[darksidedog]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha admitted yesterday that his government did not have the authority to suspend Facebook’s operations in Thailand

Or the balls.

[williamgeorgeallen]

wonder if banning facebook would bring the end of the army. thais have rioted in the streets before and facebook is very important to them.

[hobz]

They should look into banning reddit as well i guess. Pretty embarassing pictures on reddit front page yesterday. 

Talk about shooting oneself in the feet...

Edited May 17, 2017 by hobz

[quadperfect]

Removed is the new crack down word. They were cracking down too much.

[Borzandy]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

sent 24 official court orders in English

So, as it was a google translated documents, facebook didn't understood.

[wvavin]

Its like a big pancake smacks directly on the bloody face!

[Pattaya28]

The ""waffle"" is hilarious.

Deadline yesterday elapsed. Was a "bluff".

New deadline end of the month. Another "bluff".

And the ""waffle""  has got the worlds' media alerted and printing.Classic "backfire".

[Dukeleto]

I pretty much think that banning or shutting down Facebook in Thailand would pretty much bring the government to its knees. I think this is one instance where those in power have actually thought more than 10 minutes into the future and possible consequences. That in itself may herald a glimmer of hope unless of course it's a once of. Fingers crossed.

[malibukid]

Thais live on Facebook.

[hobz]

9 minutes ago, Dukeleto said:

I pretty much think that banning or shutting down Facebook in Thailand would pretty much bring the government to its knees. I think this is one instance where those in power have actually thought more than 10 minutes into the future and possible consequences. That in itself may herald a glimmer of hope unless of course it's a once of. Fingers crossed.

They did think 10 minutes ahead. Maybe next time they should aim to think 20 minutes ahead and not make a bluff that brings they eyes of the entire internet to the things they want to hide.

[kamahele]

I would think a Facebook shutdown may bring out more protesters than prior to the coup lol! Seriously, though, I think the government understands how important social media is in Thailand and a ban at this point in time would bring a lot of grief.

[Prbkk]

50 minutes ago, quadperfect said:

Removed is the new crack down word. They were cracking down too much.

Yes, those familiar with the issue might well say too much crack in many ways.

[dcnx]

All this press backfired. What they are trying so hard to hide is being shared more than ever.

[DerekMarshall]

28 minutes ago, malibukid said:

Thais live on Facebook.

And off foreigners! 

[chainarong]

What the ancient ones running country need to realize they are apart of the world , even if they would like it to piss it off on this issue , however don't encourage social media to start a blitz on the Thailand's first family or for that matter the Prayut family  because a lot more goodies may show up that U certainly don't want to know about , the Junta should just keep its big mouth shut or this issue could back fire embarrassingly  big time..............................................

[Chris Lawrence]

"When we receive such a request, we review it to determine": wow, sounds like one country talking to another country. Facebook gets to determine? That is a bit extreme, so is what the Thai Govt is doing in wanting to restrict conversations they feel are detrimental to how they want to operate. Facebook is a powerful lobby without the bullets. The power is in the pen.

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, williamgeorgeallen said:

wonder if banning facebook would bring the end of the army. thais have rioted in the streets before and facebook is very important to them.

Rioting on the streets is what brought on the present situation, with the military in charge of the country.

[Thechook]

5 minutes ago, chainarong said:

What the ancient ones running country need to realize they are apart of the world , even if they would like it to piss it off on this issue , however don't encourage social media to start a blitz on the Thailand's first family or for that matter the Prayut family  because a lot more goodies may show up that U certainly don't want to know about , the Junta should just keep its big mouth shut or this issue could back fire embarrassingly  big time..............................................

True, there is a lot more going up now on various sites.  Those in power should have kept their mouths shut and not poked the hornets nest. Politicians should think before they act and so should soldiers.

[williamgeorgeallen]

4 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

Rioting on the streets is what brought on the present situation, with the military in charge of the country.

yea, might happen again to get them booted back out.

[Happyman58]

Two things that upsets Thais  One you take there food away from them Thais love to eat And second you take away there Facebook Maybe the Pm thought hang on it could be the end of me if i take away there facebook

[jmccarty]

2 hours ago, Toshiba66 said:

If it were not for all the noise about this yesterday I would never have seen what I was not meant to see.

Its all over the world now.

 

Seems to be so much talk of whats being or trying to be removed here these days.

Facebook

Beach Umbrellas

Beach food and drink

Street food

 

I am sure there are more. Seems to be a growing list.

Hub of "banned" lists!

[Prbkk]

One potential benefit of this "exposure" is that it might give some Thais cause to reflect on their criticism of some foreigners ,who they claim offend standards with  unsuitable dress and exposing of flesh.

[khunpa]

If one of the (many) ideas is to attract foreign investment and especially technology companies, then it might be a good idea to NOT threaten with possible closure of social media sites like Facebook. Just saying...

 

I often wonder why there internally seems to be absolutely no filter, when it comes to making official statements. 

[janpharma]

Prime minister says ‘no authority’ to suspend social media operations after deadline lapses ...

also 'no authority' to deal with the nurses (who do wonderful jobs) ...

also 'no authority' to install the new rules where pick-up drivers are not allowed to take more than 6 people on the back of their truck...

Where is the 'authority'?....Is it only by spending billions of baht...buying the submarines that they don't need ?...Who is getting better of this?

[Jonmarleesco]

Well, not having the authority has never yet proved an obstacle to Thailand's powers that be.

[madmitch]

I thought under Section 44 the Government had the authority to do whatever they like. 

[AGareth2]

2 hours ago, quadperfect said:

Removed is the new crack down word. They were cracking down too much.

could read

Junta cracking