A warning against social media and entertainment platform giants, including: Facebook, Youtube and Netflix; has been issued by the government of the kingdom of Thailand if they do not register their OTT (Over-The-Top) services with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) of Thailand. Should they not comply by the 22nd of July; the foreign tech companies will face dire consequences that would threaten their revenue. Until now, around 11 Over-The-Top operators and 24 TV channels have met on Thursday (June 5th, 2017) with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) to submit their registration with their regulatory scheme.
Colonel Natee Sukolrat, chairman of the NBTC’s broadcasting committee. “We don’t want to use the term ‘illegal’ for those OTT providers who fail to register, but their services are not in line with Thai law”. “The OTT business will be governed similarly to the TV broadcasting service, for which the NBTC set some control lists to build industry standards. The NBTC will intervene or launch an investigation if they get complaints against OTT operators,” he added.
Thailand’s regulator is expecting to list at least 100 popular social media platforms and figures who have a notable impact on public opinion to its list to practice more control over content shared on the internet. This is not the first- nor is it going to be the last – crack down on social media by the government of Thailand. Earlier last month, Facebook was forced to restrict all access to local content in Thailand that violates the kingdom’s lèse-majesté laws when a video of king Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkunin walking in a crop top with one of his mistresses in a mall in Germany went viral, read more here. The law condemns anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent” to 15 years in prison. The government is very strict about this law, for instance, a man was sentenced to 35 years in prison for breaking Thailand’s lèse-majesté law by defaming the monarchy through several posts on social media.
In addition, Thailand is planning on tightening censorship even more. The ministry of digital economy made an announcement this week that they are intending to spend a total of $3.8 million (128.56 million baht) to implement a software with a “social network data analysis system” that will “sweep and store all data available on social media to be analysed and monitored”, director of the ministry’s Digital Service Infrastructure Department, Teerawut Thongpak stated. This software will allow the government of Thailand to track down and trace every movement and activity carried out by its dissidents. It will also collect information about the relationships of all non-conformists.
The kingdom is clearly following in the footsteps of Russia and China to expand its internet sovereignty and reinforce online surveillance. The junta are preparing to present a bill before the parliament to increase cyber-security. ” The bill is aimed at increasing national security, allowing the state to access data of anyone it suspects,” stated Bhume Bhumiratana, a cyber-security expert at Thai company G-Able.
