In meeting with Prajin, Facebook reiterates firm stand on users’ privacy

Prajin will seek to meet with Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and chief executive officer, when attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit (Apec) in Peru this weekend.
Yesterday’s meeting at Government House follows an attempt by the government to get online service providers to take action against “inappropriate content” when there is a violation of local laws. 
Prior to yesterday’s meeting, Facebook said in a statement: “We have never provided account information or content of any Facebook user to the government of Thailand, nor do we proactively monitor people’s content or conversations for potential violations of local law.
“We apply a strict legal process to any government request for data or content restrictions and we list the requests we are getting and any content restrictions made in our Government Requests Report. 
“Our policies and process for government requests have not changed, and are consistent for governments around the world. Our meeting with the Thai government was to outline this process,” said the statement.
Following the meeting, Prajin said that Facebook said it urged users not to use the social network against local law, and avoid distortion of information and hate speech. 
“They said they would raise our concerns on [content] infringement of local laws at the company’s meeting,” he said.
The Prayut government has asked online and social media platforms, including Google, Line and Facebook, to monitor and remove content that violates the lese majeste law following the passing of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
It is the first time that Facebook executives have met government officials. The other two giant online service platforms, Google and Line, met with the government last month. 
Earlier, a statement by Line sent to Deutsche Presse-Agentur said: “We do not monitor or block user content. User content is also encrypted, and cannot be viewed by Line.” 
In a statement sent to The Nation recently, Google said it would consider the Thai government request to remove certain sensitive information on a case-by-case basis.
Prajin said yesterday that he would seek to meet with Zuckerberg in Lima during the Apec Summit on November 19-20.
The deputy PM said he might talk about the potential for having Facebook establish a data centre in Thailand and for further business opportunities here. He is scheduled to attend the Apec Summit on behalf of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. Zuckerberg is scheduled to deliver a presentation titled “The Connectivity Revolution”. 
Deputy Government Spokesman Lt-General Werachon Sukhondhapatipak said Prayut would suspend his overseas trips scheduled for this year during the mourning period for the late King.