The Thai junta has threatened to punish a locally registered phone company for disclosing it was ordered to block access to Facebook -- days after coup leaders said that a technical fault had caused the social network to crash.
Telenor Communications Head Tor Hodland told a Norwegian newspaper Wednesday that local representative DTAC was told May 28 to block access to Facebook, which affected around ten millions users.
Immediately after the shutdown -- which provoked widespread discontent -- a military spokesperson strenuously denied any order had been given, affirming it was caused by a "technical problem with the international gateway."
The network was up again after an hour.
The deputy-chairman of the Thai National broadcasting and telecommunication commission on Wednesday called Hodland's comments "inappropriate and disrespectful."
In an interview with Thai newspaper Naew Na, Colonel Setthapong Malisuwan explicitly threatened DTAC -- which owns around 30 percent of the Thai mobile phone market -- with sanctions, threatening to investigate its shareholding.
"From now on, we will monitor the stock holdings of DTAC company in a more vigilant manner. If we discover that the ratio of foreigners’ stock in DTAC causes suspicion that they might violate law on foreigners’ stock holding, the NBTC may bar DTAC from auction for 4G signal."
Thai law authorizes a maximum of 49 percent foreign shareholding in telecommunication companies. Norway's Telenor holds a majority 42.6 percent shareholding in DTAC.
Anti-coup protesters have been able to coordinate sporadic and small size demonstrations through the Facebook network and Twitter.
Since its May 22 coup, the junta has blocked more than 500 websites and warned Facebook users not to make comments that oppose its actions.
Police General Amnuay Nimmano has gone as far as telling local media that "liking" Facebook pages critical of the military could be considered a criminal offense.
Thailand has roughly 30 million Facebook users.
aa.com.tr/en
