DE Ministry cracks down on illegal online content

More than 80,000 illegal social-media pages, websites, URLs blocked in past five months

 

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DE) has reported a significant surge in its efforts to combat online crime, with more than 80,000 illegal social-media pages, websites and URLs blocked in the past five months. 

 

Deputy Prime Minister and DE Minister Prasert Chanthararuangthong says this crackdown aligns with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s policies to disrupt criminal networks operating online.

 

Between October 2024 and February 2025, the ministry blocked 80,669 items, averaging 16,133 per month. This marks a 1.508-fold increase compared with the same period in the previous fiscal year (October 2023 to February 2024), when 53,466 items were blocked, averaging 10,693 per month.

 


The breakdown of blocked items is as follows:


Online gambling: 31,832 items, a 1.3-fold increase.
Online fraud/misinformation: 21,939 items, a 0.8769-fold decrease.
Other illegal content: 26,898 items, a 6.565-fold increase.
 

The ministry has affirmed its commitment to pursuing legal action against websites that defy court orders to remove or suspend content, citing violations of the Computer Crime Act. Administrative fines will be imposed based on computer-stored data.

 

Furthermore, the DE Ministry, in collaboration with the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), and other relevant agencies, has implemented measures to tackle illegal SMS text messages.

 

Key measures to prevent fraudulent SMS messages with links, which came into effect on February 1, include:


Annual registration of all sender names for verification purposes.
 
Mandatory registration with network providers for SMS messages containing links, requiring detailed message and link information for verification before delivery.
The use of the Emergency Decree on Measures to Prevent and Suppress Technology Crimes BE 2566 (2023) by the police to terminate service contracts with senders of fraudulent or unregistered links, or messages with contact details such as Line IDs. Network providers must also supply sender registration details to the police for prosecution.
 

“Currently, the NBTC has authorised only 42 registered sender names to send SMS messages with links, and these links are subject to verification by the National Cyber Security Agency,” Prasert said.

(2025/03/01-00:00)