Thai court wipes out 380,000 URLs in sexual harassment crackdown

The Criminal Court has ordered the removal or suspension of more than 380,000 illegal URLs in just the first three months of 2026, already surpassing the total recorded for the whole of 2024.

Court performance data as of April 8 show that 119,325 URLs were ordered removed in 2024, rising to 631,234 in 2025.

From January to early April 2026, the figure had already reached 380,863 URLs, exceeding the full-year total for 2024 and pointing to a continuing upward trend.

The sharp rise has been linked to a newly amended law that gives victims a direct route to ask the court to order the removal of obscene material used in sexual harassment, cutting out what had previously been a more complicated process.

Section 284/4 of the amended Criminal Code allows victims or relevant officials to ask the court to suspend the circulation of such material and have it removed from a publicly accessible computer system.

The amendment is intended to reduce distress and limit further harm when images or clips are circulated on social media.

The Criminal Court has also fully adopted the Court Integral Online Service (CIOS) to speed up the handling of such petitions.  

According to the latest figures cited by the court, 68 petitions covering 173 URLs had been filed through the online system. After reviewing the evidence, the court had ordered urgent removal in 88 URLs or domain-name entries.

The judiciary’s move is likely to be seen as welcome news for people facing abuse online, as Section 284/4 and the CIOS platform now provide a faster legal shield against the spread of unlawful obscene material.

For offenders, it also signals that courts now have a more immediate mechanism to halt publication and enforce penalties under the new law.