Thailand’s caretaker digital minister has threatened to shut down access to Facebook in the kingdom if the platform doesn’t do more about scams.
Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn claims Facebook scams have affected over 200,000 people to date and he will ask a court to shut down the social media platform.
“We are asking the court to close Facebook, not allowing it to provide services in Thailand if they let these fake pages scam people.”
Chaiwut’s ministry has issued a statement in which it claims it has asked Facebook on multiple occasions to remove ads it has identified as scams. Despite this, the ministry says the problem continues and it now wants the court to step in.
Wetang Phuangsup, a ministry spokesperson, says officials are currently compiling evidence of Facebook’s wrongdoing and plans to present it to the court.
“If there is a lot of wrongdoing, the court could close down pages and accounts. Or the court could close the entire platform.”
According to the ministry, Facebook scams include tricking users to invest in fake companies, impersonating government bodies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, and trading in cryptocurrencies.
“They can’t do business like this.”
Meta, owner of Facebook, has not responded to an email from Reuters requesting a comment.
SOURCE: Reuters
