PUBLISHED : 21 Aug 2023 at 18:19
Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn will seek a court order late this month to close Facebook services in the kingdom, accusing the operator of failing to block fraudulent advertisements that caused huge damage to people.
Mr Chaiwut told a press conference on Monday that his ministry had tried to ask Facebook to block fraudulent advertisements but to no avail. Therefore, he planned to ask a court by this month’s end to close Facebook services in Thailand within seven days because, he said, Facebook did not screen the people who bought its advertising space.
The minister said that fraudulent advertisements included invitations to investment projects promising unrealistically highly profits with references to well-known people and successful investors, along with the logos of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
There were also advertisements for products that were not delivered or not correctly delivered, Mr Chaiwut said.
There were about 200,000 victims of such fraudulent advertisements on Facebook and their damage exceeded 100 billion baht, the minister said.