Bangkok - Thai regulators plan to impose financial penalties on
Facebook. And other companies with video sharing platforms if they fail to
swiftly remove what they deem to be illegal content.
The new framework would give authorities the power to
immediately demand the removal of offensive material without waiting for a
court order, Colonel Natee Sukonrat, vice chairman of the National Broadcasting
and Telecommunications Commission, said in an interview on Wednesday. Details
will be released as early as this month, he said, and companies would have
about a month to comply.
“I will not touch the service; I will touch the way you make
money," Natee said when asked about penalties if companies ignore the
requests. “They have to play by the rules,” he said. “I think they will
cooperate because they make a lot of money from Thailand.”
Facebook said it regularly receives requests from governments
to limit access to content on the internet when they believe it violates their
laws. In Thailand,
it has previously restricted access to content alleged to have violated
lese-majeste laws concerning the royal family.
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“When we receive such a request, we review it to determine
if it puts us on notice of unlawful content,” the company said in an email to
Bloomberg. “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.”
Social Media
Thailand’s
military-run government, in power since a 2014 coup, has faced criticism for
clamping down on free speech ahead of elections planned for next year. In
particular, efforts to restrict discussion of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s
activities have led to tighter scrutiny of social media platforms like
Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.
In April, the NBTC gave Facebook a deadline to remove posts
and links to web pages deemed illegal. When the date arrived, the regulator
said it would seek court orders and the company was cooperating with officials.
Natee said there’s a variety of illegal content online and
the new framework is intended to have a "minimal" impact on the
public, while protecting people from harm.
He said authorities wanted companies to respond faster to
requests to remove content. For instance, he said Facebook asked for the orders
to be translated into English before they could comply with them a process that
can take weeks.
The new framework would force broadcasters to comply with
requests immediately and then petition the courts if they think the order was
illegal, Natee said. It would also compel them to have a senior manager in the
country who is able to understand Thai, he said.
‘Talk in Thai’
“We will not talk in English to them,” he said. “They have
to have someone to talk to us. When we give the order we will talk in Thai.” Natee
said authorities wouldn’t seek to block Facebook’s service in Thailand, adding
Facebook and YouTube were “very good” companies that needed to comply with
local law. Alphabet Inc., which owns YouTube, didn’t immediately respond to
emailed requests for comment.
Facebook has 47 million users in Thailand. Natee said the company
earned about three billion baht [$88 million] in revenue from the country last
year, while YouTube had revenue of 1.5 billion baht. Neither company has
released a breakdown for Thailand.
Facebook got $4.4 billion of revenue from Asia
last year, or about 16 percent of its total.
Thailand
has some of the world’s toughest lese-majeste laws, which can lead to jail
sentences of 15 years for defaming, insulting or threatening members of the
royal family. An amended Computer Crime Act, which took effect in May, bars
content that’s fake or contrary to public order or morality.
Natee said that illegal content included things like false
advertising, selling sexual services and gambling. He said Facebook took too
long to remove an April video of a man who hanged his infant daughter.
Thailand 4.0
“That’s improper,” Natee said. “With this big market, we
want more responsibility.”
Natee also dismissed concerns that Thailand’s
policies would hurt the country’s ability to attract tech companies. The
government has a goal of encouraging innovation to invigorate a economy that’s
saddled with overcapacity in manufacturing and reliant on exports and
tourism.
The plan, called Thailand 4.0, seeks to bolster sectors
ranging from biotechnology and medical care to robotics and electric vehicles
in an effort to lift the economy out of the so-called middle-income
trap. Still, challenges include uneven educational standards, a shortage
of skilled workers and intense bouts of political volatility.
“Thailand 4.0 does not mean you can do anything in
Thailand,” Natee said. “Anyone who wants to do service in Thailand has to
follow the law. Global guidelines and global policy is ok, but you have to
listen to the local voice as well.”
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