On August 21st, in Bangkok, it was reported by Reuters that the digital minister of Thailand intends to approach the court with a request to close down Facebook by Meta Platforms (META.O), the prominent social media company, within the second largest economy of Southeast Asia. The reason behind this move is the prevalence of scams that have negatively impacted over 200,000 individuals. The minister, Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, expressed his perspective on this matter on Monday.
Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn explained to Reuters, “Our intention is to urge the court to cease Facebook’s operations in Thailand if they do not take adequate measures to prevent these fraudulent pages from victimizing people.”
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, in an official statement, disclosed that they had made numerous appeals to Facebook, requesting the removal of advertisements that were recognized as fraudulent. Despite these efforts, the issue persisted, prompting the ministry to consider seeking judicial intervention.
At the moment, Meta has not provided an immediate response to an email inquiry seeking their comments on the matter.
Wetang Phuangsup, a spokesperson for the ministry, informed Reuters that officials are currently in the process of compiling evidence of Facebook’s wrongful activities. This evidence will be presented in court to support their case.
Phuangsup stated, “Should we discover a substantial amount of wrongdoing, the court may opt to deactivate certain pages and accounts, or even consider the possibility of completely shutting down the platform.”
Among the fraudulent activities reported by the ministry on Facebook are instances where users are enticed to invest in fictitious companies, fabrication of government entities like the Securities and Exchange Commission, and illicit trading involving digital currencies.
Chaiwut emphasized, “Engaging in business practices of this nature is simply unacceptable.”
Reporting for this article was conducted by Panu Wongcha-um, with writing contributions from Martin Petty and Devjyot Ghoshal. The final editing was overseen by David Goodman and Mark Potter.