Last week, Thailand proposed a campaign that calls upon ISPs to take active participation in monitoring and blocking content on the internet

An internet service providers (ISPs) group in Thailand has sent an official request to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook Thailand Managing Director, asking the platform to block content that violates the country’s lese majeste law, according to a report by Bangkok Post.

The request follows a recent campaign by the Thailand government that calls upon ISPs and international internet gateway (IIG) companies to play an active role in monitoring and censoring illicit content on the internet, including content that violates the country’s lese majeste law.

Companies are to implement the new policy within seven days or they may risk having their licenses revoked by the government.

The group is consists of 19 ISP and IIG companies that belong to the Thai Internet Service Provider Association (Tispa).

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While the Thai court has ordered for the shut down of 6,900 web pages or web sites since 2015, group spokesperson Morragot Kulatumyotin stated that there are around 600 pages that ISPs cannot block because they are encrypted with a server locating abroad. Most of these pages are on Facebook.

Kulatumyotin said that the group expects a “positive response” from Facebook.

The proposal came just in time after Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is hiring extra 3,000 new staffs to monitor and remove illicit content from the platform, such as hate speech, child abuse, and violence.

Several murder and suicide cases have been broadcasted live through Facebook in the past year, including an incident when a Thai man killed his baby daughter then himself.

The Thai government has also warned netizens against corresponding with three individuals known for their anti-regime views: Thammasat University historian Somsak Jeamteerasakul, Kyoto University associate professor Pavin Chachavalpongpun, and Scottish online journalist Andrew MacGregor Marshall.

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