THE Ministry of Digital Economy and Society is today (Oct. 19) getting ready to prosecute several media outlets for publishing and presenting news that go against the emergency decree while also taking action against 300,000 illegal URLs (web pages), Thai Rath newspaper reported.
Minister of Digital Economy and Society Putthipong Punnakan said the chief responsible for resolving a serious emergency had asked the ministry to investigate and suspend the broadcasting of four media outlets that affect state security.
Meanwhile Sanook.com reported that two hashtags, #save free media and #Mob 19 October, have jointly become the number two Thai Twitter trend today after the authorities’ move against the media.
A document issued by the chief responsible for resolving a serious emergency uses the power of the emergency decree to ask the Office of National Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission and this ministry to check and either stop or delete parts of news broadcast or published by Voice TV, Prachaitai.com, The Reporters and The Standard as well as information published by Free Youth group.
Putthipong said his ministry has been monitoring communication, particularly through social media channels, all the time and when anything illegal is discovered action has to be taken because the state of emergency is in effect, with this backdating to October 14.
At 11 a.m. today the ministry’s permanent secretary went to report for prosecution about 300,000 URLs (web addresses) found to have committed wrongdoings during October 14-18, including sharing information, and are now in the processes of identifying the people running them.
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Top: A reporter from The Reporters covering news. Thai headline says, “The document is real.” Photo: Sanook.com
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