What is the involvement of Facebook in Thailand’s pro-democracy activism?

Facebook has said that it is going to initiate a legal challenge against a Thai government order to take down a group where discussions about the monarchy, a sensitive context, was held by the pro-democracy activists in the country.

The group

• A private Facebook group named “Royalist Marketplace”, was created in the month of April that gained more than a million followers.
• The platform was a place for discussion on the monarchy, including political role and reform proposals.

Issues

• • The common people of Thailand have always expressed their grievances against the over-powerful King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
  • Their demand for transparency of palace finances, scrapping of defamation law and drafting of a new constitution following the dissolution of the Parliament created a concern to the government.
  • Facebook had reportedly been forced by the Thai government to remove the group in order to suppress their voice.

• The issue of the Thai monarchy is a sensitive subject that is safeguarded by protective defamation law. In case of the violation, one can be sentenced to up to 15 years.
• The NGO named Human Rights Watch strongly condemned the abolition of the freedom of expression.
• Asia Advocacy Director John Sifton desired a strong action from Facebook to protect the human rights of the people of Thailand.

Facebook’s stance

• According to Facebook the incident of taking away people’s expressions is a violation of human rights law.
• In order to protect and defend the rights of all internet users, they will legally oppose the order.