Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha says he’s delegated the Royal Thai Army to research following Facebook Inc said it’s eliminated 185 accounts and teams participated in an information-influencing performance in Thailand conducted by the army
BANGKOK — Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha says he’s delegated the Royal Thai Army to research following Facebook Inc. eliminated 185 accounts and teams allegedly participated in an information-influencing performance in Thailand conducted by the army.
“Facebook took actions similar to this. It may be translated in a variety of ways. We have to make it obvious,” explained Prayuth.
Approximately 703,000 accounts followed one or more of those pages, roughly 100,000 accounts combined at least among those groups and approximately 2,500 individuals followed more of their Instagram accounts. Facebook explained.
Facebook states that the community of balances originated in Thailand and targeted national audiences in its southern states, where the military faces a longstanding insurgency movement. The folks behind the network utilized both fake and authentic reports, posting their articles on multiple pages to make it seem more popular than it had been. Nearly all page postings seem to have happened in 2020.
“Although the folks behind it tried to hide their identities and coordination, our analysis found links into the Thai army’s Internal Security Operations Command,” Facebook explained.
The three said they’ve been targeted at these operations.
They said that they also planned to get Facebook and also the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression looking for an investigation to military’s data operations contrary to Thai civilians.
“The military doesn’t have any ability to perpetrate such data operations,” Yingcheep told reporters. “The authorities should protect individuals who wish to share their opinions, not make propaganda and attack individuals who have differing perspectives.”
The dilemma of military information surgeries has surfaced through parliamentary discussions.
The military reacted by stating it only trains officers for public relations, to encourage a favorable picture for the army.
In October 2020, Twitter revealed it had discovered a community of 926 accounts supposedly involved in information operations connected to the military. It said the balances were participating in amplifying pro-Royal Thai Army and pro-government articles and also targeting notable political opposition figures.
Aside from in Thailand, Facebook stated last month it had discovered and eliminated efforts to reestablish a presence on the stage from military-linked networks in Myanmar, where the military took over at a Feb. 1 coup. Facebook had eliminated those balances.
