[Published: Tuesday May 16 2017]
Thailand threatens to ban Facebook
Bangkok 16 May (ANA) - Thailand has no immediate plan to block access to Facebook, the telecoms regulator said on Tuesday, as it expects the social media giant to comply with court orders for the removal of content deemed to threaten national security. In a move to censor criticism in the junta-run country, the telecoms regulator had set Facebook a Tuesday deadline to take down 131 web addresses with content it saw as threatening security or violating strict lese majeste laws. Last week's threat prompted a flurry of concern in the South East Asian country - one of Asia's most active on Facebook - that the site would be blocked. However, there would be no immediate measures to block Facebook, Takorn Tantasith, secretary-general of Thailand's telecoms commission, told reporters, adding that bureaucracy had held up the process of removing the 131 impugned content items. “We have the necessary documents from the court to block 34 URLs now,” Takorn said, following a visit to the head office of a grouping of internet providers in Thailand to check if Facebook had complied with the authorities' removal request.(ANA)
FA/ANA/16 May 2017-----
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