Facebook reportedly plans to sue Thailand's government over its demand that the company block users within the country from accessing a group critical of its king (FB)

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

• Facebook is planning to sue Thailand's government after it demanded the company prevent users from accessing a group that criticized the country's king, CNN reported Monday.
• Facebook has complied with the request in the meantime, blocking users in Thailand from seeing posts from the group, "Royalist Marketplace," which has around 1 million users, Reuters reported Monday.
• Pavin Chachavalpongpun, the group's creator and critic of the monarchy who is living in self-imposed exile in Japan, told Business Insider that Facebook's decision to comply "detrimental both to the right to express freely and democracy in this region."
• In the US, Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have repeatedly attempted to position the company as a defender of free speech, but overseas it has typically been more deferential to autocratic governments.
• The Wall Street Journal also reported this week that Zuckerberg lobbied Trump and members of Congress to take action against rival TikTok on the grounds that its rival wasn't committed to free expression.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Facebook is preparing to take unprecedented legal action against the government of Thailand after it demanded the social media giant block access to a group that had criticized the country's king, CNN reported Monday evening.

Reuters reported earlier in the day that Facebook had heeded the demand to block users within Thailand from accessing the group after the government threatened to take Facebook to court.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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