Gov’t Warns Social Media, Websites Over Publishing ‘Misinfo’

Telecommunication officials visit the government Anti-Fake News Center on Nov. 24, 2019.

BANGKOK (Xinhua) — Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society on Tuesday warned popular social media and websites against publishing information that could mislead or cause unrest in Thailand.

“As many as 3,083 social-media pages and websites that are potentially in violation of the law have been reported to the Ministry,” said Buddhipongse Punnakanta, minister of Digital Economy and Society.

From Aug. 7 to 17, reports had been filed of 3,083 social media pages and websites, of which 1,395 were found to be in violation of the Computer Crimes Act, the minister said.

According to the minister, there were 1,395 violators, 1,014 are Facebook pages, 226 YouTube clips, 121 Twitter messages, 25 websites and nine TikTok posts.

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“Ministry officials have collected evidence and submitted it to the Thai Court,” Buddhipongse said.

So far, the Thai Court has already ordered the closure of 653 social media pages or websites, he said.

“However, there are many social media pages that have ignored the court order; hence those who don’t obey the court order to close, will face a fine of 200,000 baht (6,418 U.S. dollars) or 5,000 baht (160 U.S. dollars) per day until they improve their content in line with Section 27 of the Computer Crimes Act,” the minister warned.