BANGKOK
Thailand's junta is tightening its squeeze on the Internet, planning to dispatch representatives to meet Facebook, Google and messaging app executives this weekend to ask them to shut down pages with content that opposes their coup, or is deemed critical of the Thai monarchy.
The governing National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has also set up an online content monitoring committee, which has summoned local Internet Service Providers to ask them to report pages and websites with “inappropriate content.”
As of Friday, Thailand's newly-formed "Big Brother" had blocked 200 "innapropriate" Facebook pages and websites.
“The military has realized how social media can be used to mobilize street protests,"an unnamed Thai academic told the Anadolu Agency. "Hence, it has attempted to interfere with communications they see as trying to sabotage their current operations.”
The academic did not wish to be named as the junta has also barred academics from giving interviews to media.
In its efforts to control, Thailand's Ministry of Public Health has also warned against over-consumption of non "state-run news," which may - it says - lead to mental stress.
Wachira Phengchan, Thailand's deputy permanent secretary of health, last week cautioned those who constantly follow up on political developments against stress.
"People at risk of such stress are advised to follow only the news from state-run news outlets in the morning and evening," Phengchan said
"If one feels stressed, has difficulty sleeping, has a headache or becomes easily irritated, he/she should consult the stress clinic at public health establishments or call the Mental Health Department's hotline number 1667."
Small size, spontaneous anti-coup demonstrations have erupted daily since the military took over, mostly in the country's capital Bangkok. On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters overwhelmed a small group of military near Victory Monument, a landmark in northern Bangkok, and vandalized a military vehicle. On Thursday, 1300 soldiers and policemen were deployed there to prevent demonstrations.
The academic highlighted a May 24 Facebook post by anti-coup activist Sombat Boonngarm-anong which called for a protest near a McDonald's in the commercial area of Bangkok.
The day after, hundreds of people gathered there for several hours, scolding military and denouncing the coup.
On Wednesday, Facebook was blocked nationwide for one hour, provoking fury among the 20 million Thai Facebook users.
A military spokesman immediately denied it had been blocked on the junta’s orders, blaming the incident on a “technical glitch between the international gateway and the national Facebook server.” But local media quoted sources in the telecommunications industry as saying it had been intentionally blocked, either to intimidate users or to test their reactions.
Outside of blocking websites, the junta has also tried to establish an Internet presence of its own, setting up an official Facebook page and a twitter account, through which the May 22 coup was announced.
Facebook pages have also appeared championing the coup, with titles such as “We Support Thai Army” or “We Love Soldiers – Royal Thai Army.”
However, comments critical of the coup prevail, as well as images and video of anti-coup demonstrations.
To tackle the Junta's clampdown, anti-coup demonstrators have been forced to adapt, often by opening several Facebook pages under different names, and by turning towards chat applications and Twitter to launch activities.
There are also more clandestine ways of hiding your activity. Private Network Websites enable Thai users to mask their IP addresses by diverting it to a secondary country, making it look like they are elsewhere.
The academic told AA that activist Sombat Boonngarmt-anong asked followers to follow him on Twitter and Hi5 after his Facebook page was closed Wednesday.
"Many of these people have started to use Twitter for the first time,” he added.
The military is clearly intent on clamping down on Internet freedoms in an effort to maintain control, but in pursuing its own agenda it may end up having to also censor itself.
One of the many Facebook pages containing anti-coup comments this week was the governing NCPO’s own.
It may end up having to shutter all social media, even that it needs for its own propaganda.
www.aa.com.tr/en
