Facebook still accessible as govt deadline passes
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Facebook still accessible as govt deadline passes

(Reuters photo)
(Reuters photo)

The Facebook social media site was still available in Thailand on Tuesday despite threats by authorities to block it if Facebook did not take down content deemed threatening to national security.

The telecoms regulator said last week it would give Facebook Thailand until Tuesday to take down 131 web addresses with content deemed threatening to security or which violated strict lese majeste laws.

The threat prompted a flurry of concern among users in Thailand, the most Facebook-active country in Asia.

Morakot Kulthamyothin, president of the Thai Internet Service Provider Association (Tispa), which includes 19 landline and mobile ISPs, as well as major international internet gateway operators covering 90% of the country, said there was no plan to block access to Facebook in Thailand yet.

"We haven't discussed that action to shutdown Facebook," Mr Morakot told reporters.

On Tuesday, Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC), went to the Tispa head office to inspect whether all 131 posts authorities had asked Facebook to block had been taken down.

He was expected to speak to reporters later on Tuesday.

Days after the May 2014 military coup, the Information Communications Technology Ministry temporarily blocked access to Facebook saying it had received orders to do so by the military in order to suspend content critical of the military.

The junta denied it had ordered the action.

The military government has since ramped up online censorship, particularly perceived insults to the monarchy.

Last month, the junta aso banned people making any online contact with three vocal critics of the monarchy.

Last week the NBTC secretary-general said the Ministry of Digital Economy would file a complaint with police this week to press charges against Facebook Thailand under the Computer Crime Act and commerce ministry regulations.

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