Thai law to regulate social media content in the pipeline

BANGKOK (The Nation/ANN): A proposal for legislation to control social media content in Thailand was raised by the prime minister at Tuesday’s (June 8) Cabinet meeting, government spokesman Anucha Burapachaisri said.

Prayut cited recent legislation in India to regulate social media, including various blogs, the spokesman said.

India’s new rules require internet platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to erase content that authorities deem unlawful and to help with police investigations, including identifying the originators of “mischievous information”.

Burapachaisri said the Council of State will now study details of similar laws passed in other countries before proposing legislation to the Cabinet for regulating social media in Thailand.

Since the 2014 coup, the Thai government has tightened its restrictions on social media, threatening Facebook, Twitter and YouTube with prosecution unless the platforms deleted content it deemed unacceptable. - The Nation/Asia News Network