New minister rules out closure of Facebook over scams, seeks meeting with execs
The new Minister of Digital Economy and Society, Prasert Chantararuangthong, has backed off from his predecessor’s threat to end Facebook services in Thailand due to its repeated failures to deal with fraudulent ads.
Prasert said on Thursday that he would instead seek a meeting with Facebook executives to discuss Thailand’s concerns on the matter.
He explained that there were as many as 45 million Facebook accounts in Thailand and most Thai users benefit from decent use of the social media platform.
“This is a sensitive issue. I am looking to invite Facebook executives in Singapore to a meeting with me,” Prasert said on his first day at work at the ministry.
Regarding fraudulent advertisements on Facebook and other social media platforms, he said the issue should be tackled systematically and that “the closure of a communication channel” should not be an option.
During his last weeks in office, former Digital Economy and Society minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn had said late in August that he would seek a court order to close Facebook services in Thailand following the social media platform’s failure to block fraudulent advertisements that caused huge damage to people.
Chaiwut accused Facebook of failing to screen buyers of its advertising space or block fraudulent advertisements as requested by the ministry.
About 200,000 people were victims of such ads on Facebook, with damage exceeding 100 billion baht, according to Chaiwut.
Fraudulent ads on Facebook represent 70% among all social media platforms, while e-commerce frauds on Facebook account for 90% of all cases.
