Twitter's New Censorship Policy Welcomed By Thailand

BANGKOK — Thailand is welcoming Twitter's new policy to censor tweets in specific nations where the content might break laws.

Technology minister Anudith Nakornthap said Monday the new policy was a "constructive" development. The Southeast Asian country routinely blocks websites with content deemed offensive to the Thai monarchy.

Anudith said it was good that Twitter "felt responsible to cooperate with governments to make sure basic rights are not violated through the use of social media."

Thailand's taskforce that monitors anti-monarchy content has blocked 1,156 websites since December.

Twitter has been a tool of free speech and dissent around the world and its policy change last week ignited global outrage. The U.S. State Department credited Twitter with being upfront about the policy but reserved comment otherwise.

Comments

[El Jefe]

12:56 PM on 02/01/2012

Hold the government responsible. You expect a company to disappear from a country and lose all profits there when the government forces it to censor? Fight against the real evil, government.

[VioletGrey]

08:22 AM on 01/31/2012

Once again making providers responsible for the behavior of the users. Good job Twitter, way to show that you value the whole concept of the net.

[davidprosser]

07:52 PM on 01/30/2012

Part II:
=
And couldn’t it be different? Couldn’t Twitter, or Facebook, or Google, go on the offensive here? Say that profit has its limits? Stand up for all of the citizens of the world and say that there are values which should not be denied anyone?

In a globalized, interconnected, and interdependent world this is imperative. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said (when the world was far less globalized): “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Isn’t it time that mutual responsibility, in light of our vast interconnection, was given some serious thought? Isn’t a person, no matter their age, sex, race, or nationality, a person? And doesn’t that means that we need universal standards that can’t be trampled upon in order to increase market shares or keep economies growing?

[davidprosser]

07:51 PM on 01/30/2012

My comment in parts due to length.

Part I:

Twitter’s argument is they must bend in order to respect certain nations (which I guess means the hierarchy who are for the suppression of certain forms of speech), but what about Twitter seemingly bastardizing their own values, that they are for the open exchange of information?

And if Twitter is really for the “open exchange of information” then don’t they set a horrible example by agreeing to censorship? And what about this perhaps being a slippery slope? What about the affect on other corporations, the cause and effect chain, the influence of the marketplace of ideas?

We live today in an interconnected world (so how ironic it is that Twitter should need this lesson). Because in an interconnected world things that happen in one part of the world inevitably end up affecting other places in the world.

Interconnection also signifies interdependence. So besides setting a bad example, that it is OK to subvert ones values in order to profit, Twitter is also saying that it is OK, in an interconnected and interdependent world, to profit at the expense of an entire nation’s populace (because Twitter’s actions are basically condoning these nations suppression of free speech).

[pitciarn]

05:14 PM on 01/30/2012

Bravo Twitter, Bowing down to Dictators, Thugs and "presidents-for-life". You are gutless and will soon find your customers GONE, Your new logo will be a white Upside down bird (We Give up)

[chedet]

04:28 AM on 02/01/2012

You do realize that Thailand is a democratic country, don't you? You just can't criticize the monarchy out of respect.

[pitciarn]

08:00 AM on 02/01/2012

If it is a Democracy, then why can't its failures be crictizied ?? Since when does "respect" come no matter how any Government treat its people ?? Attacks on a leader trying to better the way of life are uncalled for, but "for King & Country" only works when the King is working for his people & not AGAINST them..

Where I come from Respect is a two way street, to GET it you must SHOW it..

[Redrocklass]

02:30 PM on 01/30/2012

This is a story?

[kemcha]

02:04 PM on 01/30/2012

Well, what do you know? Who needs SOPA and PIPA and government to censor the internet when Social Media sites are more than willing to censor the internet themselves.

THIS IS AN OUTRAGE AND EVERYBODY SHOULD DROP TWITTER LIKE A BAD HABIT!!!

[Chunkylover54]

01:40 PM on 01/30/2012

Twitter trys to play off that the cenorship thing in a good light with the whole "Nazi" in germany thing, which most would just dismiss as "who cares about nazis". while I dont care about nazis I do care about free speech which was not a Nazi stronghold, So you see twitter by banning nazis you are acting like nazis... Catch 22!

But what will really happen is these States is that the Gov will supress all the dissident speech Goodbye Arab Spring, your tyrants have bought your silence

[nirvana101]

01:28 PM on 01/30/2012

But of course they do........

[Jon Nadelberg]

01:18 PM on 01/30/2012

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera..

[imanormalalien]

12:59 PM on 01/30/2012

what is Thailand afraid of?

[pitciarn]

05:19 PM on 01/30/2012

I quote the line from "V" :

The People should not fear their Govt, the Govt should fear the People"

[chedet]

04:29 AM on 02/01/2012

In countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei it is against the law to criticize the monarchy

[pitciarn]

07:54 AM on 02/01/2012

People here in the USA & other ELECTED Democracies should be thankfull for their right to express themselves. Democracy is not a perfect form of Government, but beats what ever else is out there..

[overkill]

12:26 PM on 01/30/2012

I'm not sure if Twitter is really jumping into this censorship bandwagon or just feigning it.

Right now, you don't need an advanced proxy, TOR or any circumventing technology to bypass the censorship. All that you need to do is to edit your Twitter profile and change the country of residence.

[Jam75]

12:10 PM on 01/30/2012

Dumb move. Twitter is a service that is easy enough to replicate.