BANGKOK: Thailand on Friday (Jul 30) banned the dissemination of “false messages” that affect security, drawing accusations from media groups that it is trying to crack down on criticism of its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said this week that the spread of fake news had become a major problem causing confusion in society and undermining the government’s ability to manage the pandemic.
Advertisement
Advertisement
An emergency decree that took effect on Friday prohibits the dissemination of false messages and distorted news that causes panic, misunderstanding or confusion “affecting state security, abusing the rights of others, and order or good morality of the people”.
The decree empowers the state regulator, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), to order service providers to block Internet access to individual IP addresses if it believes they are disseminating false news and to inform the police to take legal action.
The decree comes after the government has faced public criticism over its handling of the pandemic.
READ: PM Prayut downplays severity of Thailand’s COVID-19 situation, claims other countries have it worse
Advertisement
Advertisement
For most of last year Thailand managed to keep the virus at bay but a recent surge of infections, driven by the Delta variant of the virus, has been the deadliest yet.
A sluggish vaccine roll-out has led to huge crowds queuing up day after day in some places for COVID tests and inoculations.
The government already has sweeping powers to enforce measures to tackle the coronavirus and rules for control of the Internet. Authorities have been taking legal action against some people, including some celebrities and social media influencers, who have criticised the pandemic response.
READ: Thai hospitals short of beds as COVID-19 cases soar
Advertisement
These include 19-year-old rapper, Danupa “Milli” Khanatheerakul, who was fined 2,000 baht (US$60) on a charge of “public insult” last week after accusing the government on social media of mishandling the COVID-19 crisis.
Six media associations said in a joint statement the government’s legal actions showed “an intent to crack down on the freedom of expression enjoyed by the media and the public”.
The associations are planning to deliver a letter protesting against the government’s new order on Friday.
The government has said that legal action against “false messages” was not aimed at silencing the media.
BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments
Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
Wow, awesome weblog structure! How lengthy have you been running a blog for?
you made running a blog glance easy. The full look of your site is magnificent, let alone the content material!
You can see similar here sklep internetowy
“Bet & Get” on featured games enables players to earn fascinating rewards through particular betting
activities.
Do you mind if I quote a few of your posts as long as I provide
credit and sources back to your site? My blog is in the very same niche as yours and my users would truly benefit from some of
the information you present here. Please let me know if this alright with you.
Cheers!
I like it when folks come together and share thoughts. Great site, keep it up!
Hello there! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist
with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords
but I’m not seeing very good results. If you know of any please share.
Cheers!
Hi! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on.
Any recommendations?
Hi! Someone in my Facebook group shared this website with
us so I came to give it a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m bookmarking
and will be tweeting this to my followers! Fantastic blog and great style and
design.
Hi! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using
for this site? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and
I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be
great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
I’m not sure exactly why but this web site is loading incredibly slow for me.
Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem on my end?
I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
Thanks a bunch for sharing this with all folks you actually know what you are talking approximately!
Bookmarked. Please also talk over with my web site =).
We will have a hyperlink change agreement between us
Hey I am so glad I found your website, I really found you by mistake, while I was researching on Yahoo for
something else, Regardless I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for
a fantastic post and a all round entertaining blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t
have time to read through it all at the minute but I have bookmarked it and also added your
RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read
much more, Please do keep up the great b.
This is very interesting, You’re a very skilled blogger.
I have joined your rss feed and look forward to seeking more
of your excellent post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social
networks!