Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha has ordered an investigation into allegations that the military is behind a network of Facebook accounts allegedly using deceptive behaviour to influence public debate, including over the long-running conflict in the country’s mainly Muslim provinces in the far south.
The Bangkok Post reported on Friday that Prayuth had directed the defence ministry to look into and find more details of the case, and explain the matter to the public to clear up doubts over its information operations.
Marking the first time it has removed accounts allegedly linked to the Thai government, Facebook removed a Thailand-based network that included 77 accounts, 72 pages and 18 groups on Facebook and 18 accounts on Instagram, citing “coordinated inauthentic behaviour”.
Facebook said in a report the operation was linked to the military’s Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) and targeted audiences in Thailand’s southern provinces, where conflict has rumbled for decades.
ISOC spokesman Thanathip Sawangsang on Thursday denied the military was involved.
“ISOC is not aware of the takedown of the Facebook accounts as reported in the news. Those were personal accounts not related to ISOC,” Thanathip said in a statement.
“ISOC also doesn’t engage in operations as reported in the news. We act as a centre for coordination to provide relief and refuge to the people.”…..read more
Source: Al Jazeera
