Thais to 'unlike' anti-monarch Facebook content

Thailand's Facebook users could run afoul of the country's strict lese majeste laws should they "like" or "share" content with their online community, according to the Bangkok Post.

The Thai online news site reported last Friday that people who click on the "share" or "like" buttons on Facebook for content that offends the monarch can be charged, even if the intention behind it was to show support for or oppose against the original content, said Anudith Nakornthap, the country's Computer Crime Act, Information and Communication Technology minister.

He said the information and photos of online participants in these topics "can be exploited by Web operators who can reuse them in making 'fake Facebook' pages. As a result, these Facebook users will then be recognized as supporters of a group or network that offends the monarch, he added.

The minister went on to urge users who have shared or liked such content to delete all their reactions and comments. "If they don't delete them, they can end up violating the Computer Crime Act for indirectly distributing inappropriate content," said Nakornthap.

According to SocialBakers, a Web site focused on tracking the number of Facebook users by country, Thailand is currently in 16th position with 12.9 million and behind only to Indonesia, India and the Philippines for Asian markets.