Updated: Thai government and Thai Journalists’ Association cheer censorship with Twitter
Twitter’s move allowing the censorsing of tweets “has gained the backing of its first international government, after authorities in Thailand publicly endorsed the introduction.”
According to the report at The Next Web, MICT permanent secretary Jeerawan Boonperm welcomed the development. The government says it will contact Twitter to begin collaboration on the new feature to censor tweets.
The report notes that:
the positive comments from Thailand’s government towards Twitter’s new move are unsurprising, given its history of censoring the Internet for lese majeste content, and there was even a campaign that proposed to block Twitter, Facebook and other services in the country.
Naturally, all of this is only about the monarchy.
What else would be expected when the climate of fear and intimidation has reached such epic proportions in royalist Thailand.
Freedom of expression hangs in the balance.
In the report there is one bit of information that is of interest for those who tweet: “For those in Thailand, or other countries where tweets may be censored, there are a number of workarounds to ensure tweets are left untouched.”
Update: PPT read this in the Bangkok Post and found it totally predictable:
Chavarong Limpattamapanee, president of the Thai Journalists Association, expressed understanding for the new policy…. “Local users must still comply with local law. Freedom of speech is a human right, but this freedom is not borderless. One must be responsible,” he said.
That any journalists’ association should support censorship is jaw dropping. That it is predictable that the TJA should support censorship is reflective of the failure of the TJA over several years. The mainstream media has been remarkably irresponsible, jettisoning any notion of neutrality and reporting in deliberately biased ways. The TJA is a disgrace.
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