Thailand threatens legal action against Facebook

Thailand’s digital minister has announced the government plans to seek legal action against Facebook unless they act against scam pages that have affected more than 200,000 people.

In a statement shared with Reuters, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society said it had made several recurring requests for advertisements identified as scams to be removed by Meta (Facebook), but after a prolonged lack of action, would now be seeking court intervention.

Digital Economy and Society minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, also confirmed they’re currently gathering evidence of the wrongdoings, which include false advertisements, and plan to pursue a ban on the platform if they fail to rectify the damage caused—which is anticipated to be valued at US$2.8 million (100 million baht).

According to Bangkok Post, a press conference was held on Monday, in which the minister shared that the scam varied from fraudulent advertisements featured on Facebook pages with misleading invitations for investment projects that promised unrealistically high yields of up to 30%, to references to well-known people and successful investors, alongside logos of Securities and Exchange Commission and the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

There were also several crypto-related ads aimed at scamming users—with the estimated number of scams sitting at nearly 5,300.

If Meta fails to act, they could face a shutdown in Thailand which is Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy, within seven days.

Meta did not have any comment for Campaign, when requested at the time of publishing.