Thailand govt’ blocks Change.org to stop petitions against the king
Thailand has blocked access to online petition site Change.org, after it hosted a petition calling for King Maha Vajiralongkorn to be declared persona non grata in Germany.
The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society said the petition’s contents violated Thailand’s Computer Crime Act.
Thai Netizen Network, a group monitoring internet censorship, said Thursday night that access to the petition website is banned through all three major service providers: AIS, Dtac, and True.
Earlier this week, the Thailand government has imposed an emergency state in the country.
The decree bans gatherings of five or more people and the publication of “sensitive news” or online messages that could harm national security.
What happened?
The move comes after Germany’s foreign minister said that King Vajiralongkorn should not be engaging in politics from inside Germany.
King Vajiralongkorn has been also criticized by protesters for spending much of his time in Germany.
The petition – written in Thai, English, and German attracted nearly 130,000 signatures before the site was blocked with an online notice saying that the content had been suspended for breaking the Computer-related Crime Act 2007 and or/ the Gambling Act 1935. However, it still available outside Thailand.
The petition was originated by a Thai graduate student in France, according to BBC Thai.
Earlier on Wednesday, thousands of people marched to the Government House to demand the resignation of the ex-army chief turned prime minister, Prayuth Chan-Ocha who took power in a 2014 coup.
However, Thailand’s Prime Minister said on Friday he would not resign, as anti-government protesters promised to continue their rallies despite a ban on demonstrations under new emergency measures.
