
Facebook censors group criticizing Thailand king after government pressure - envy2
https://www.theverge.com/2020/8/24/21399940/facebook-thailand-group-remove-king-criticism-threat-defamatory-free-speech
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smabie
It's even worse in America, FB volunteers to censor non-illegal content all
the time, because, like, businesses reasons. Almost everyone believes in
censorship, except it's only called censorship when they disagree with it.

When people support the censorship, it's called preventing fake news,
combating misinformation, deplatforming hate, or whatever.

It's started to bum me out that everyone wants to eliminate others from
voicing opinions they disagree with, even if they'll never hear or come in
contact with it!

~~~
krageon
I have never seen someone decrying others "deplatforming hate" acting in good
faith or coming from a nuanced mindset, but it would appear from your comment
history (yes, I did check it... I will admit I was sceptical) that you're not
a thinly veiled white supremacist. Perhaps I'll read points like these more
charitably in the future.

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thrrway33
Facebook seems to punch down. If you're an oppressed or persecuted minority,
you are out of luck and subjected to hate and incitement. If you are in a
politically favored group, or a threat to FB's bottom line, FB is ultra-
sensitive.

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siraben
Thai citizen here. I've always seen the lese majeste laws as immoral, but
unfortunately talking about the monarchy in any negative way is so taboo that
many are not willing to do it publicly for fear of being penalized severely.

Anecdotally, public opinion of Rama X is lower than Rama IX. The latter was,
objectively speaking, very prolific in the arts and sciences. The former,
well, for one, spends excessive time abroad and has gotten into a number of
controversies. It's definitely got more people questioning the lese majeste
laws.

~~~
raxxorrax
Didn't the king himself speak out against penalizing people that had
criticized him? Might have been the last one, was quite some time ago I read
about it and the article suggested that the monarchy is in very high regard in
Thailand.

That said, I think it should be permitted to criticize everything without
repercussions.

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wombatmobile
There are some 50 million FB users in Thailand.

[https://napoleoncat.com/stats/facebook-users-in-
thailand/201...](https://napoleoncat.com/stats/facebook-users-in-
thailand/2019/01)

Don't expect many of them to comment here about this subject. Or anywhere. The
risk is too great.

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chillacy
> This month Thailand’s digital minister accused Facebook of not complying
> with requests to restrict content, including insults to the monarchy. On 10
> August he gave Facebook 15 days to comply with court takedown orders or face
> charges under the Computer Crime Act, which carries a fine of up to 200,000
> baht (£4,860) plus an additional 5,000 baht per day until each order is
> observed.

[https://www.facebook.com/RoyalistMarketplace/](https://www.facebook.com/RoyalistMarketplace/)

Page still exists it looks like, just enforcing the local laws. It's another
one of those damned if you do damned if you don't cases.

~~~
tharidlynn
The real Royalist Marketplace is a Facebook Group not Page. I think your url
is the wrong on one.

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downvoteme1
I think there is no point in blaming Facebook here . Facebook has to follow a
country’s laws if it wants to operate there and there are well known laws in
Thailand against criticizing the monarchy. If not followed, then Facebook has
a real risk on being banned in that country.

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kobayashimaru
Remember Thailand knows better than you what is good for their people. You
cannot judge a man without walking a day in his shoes.....

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nisuni
Friendly reminder that when what can and cannot be said is chosen by a private
company, they will always choose what’s better for their business.

The only way of having some moral (rather than commercial) principles guiding
the choice, is to regulate it at government level.

~~~
treeman79
That is much worse.

I can quit Facebook.

Quitting a country is not practical.

~~~
nisuni
But a country’s policy is decided by the citizens, if you live in a democracy.

Facebook’s policy is decided by its CEO and few others. Citizens/users have no
saying.

There’s a big danger in shifting most of the public discourse to private
platforms. We already have many example, YouTube banning anti-Erdogan keywords
is just the first popping to my mind.

~~~
treeman79
The key difference is consequence.

Tell Facebook no, they may kick you of.

Tell the government no. You go to jail. Say no to that and you get shot.

The moment it’s okay for government to control speech, you have China.

Having armed government agents showing up at a house because they don’t
“agree” with the official stance is a dictatorship.

~~~
nisuni
I never said it’s OK for the government to control speech undemocratically
like happens in China, maybe I didn’t explain myself well.

My point is: I would prefer the government decides democratically what can and
cannot be told. And I am fine with a very liberal standard, in which almost
everything can be told.

I am pretty much a free speech absolutist. Everything can be said in my
opinion.

But, if limits are imposed by a democratic government they will at least
follow some democratic standard. Limits imposed by private companies will only
follow the money!

~~~
treeman79
I get your point. I just think it’s completely wrong.

The moment government is allowed to say what is not “protected speech” it will
be abused.

Only one viewpoint will be allowed. Voting will be meaningless when only one
side can get its message out.

