DE Ministry demands Meta answers over obscene Facebook livestreams

The Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, or DE, is stepping up pressure on Meta, the parent company of Facebook, after obscene livestreams were allowed to remain on the platform for several hours and reached a large audience, raising serious questions over the content-moderation efficiency of a global platform.

Digital Economy Minister Chaichanok Chidchob said the incidents occurred during May 23-24, when several Facebook accounts were found livestreaming obscene content. Some clips remained online for more than six to eight hours before being blocked.

Meta, through Clara Goh, director of public policy for Central Southeast Asia and ASEAN, initially explained to the ministry that the publishers had used methods to “trick the algorithm” by inserting content that did not breach the rules during the livestream, such as cutting to people talking or using women wearing masks. This caused the platform’s artificial intelligence system to assess the livestreams as normal content, preventing them from being blocked immediately.

However, Chaichanok said the explanation was “not convincing”, as illegal content had been able to remain online continuously for many hours, reflecting a serious loophole in the platform’s detection system.

“If the platform’s AI system is truly effective, why were these clips still able to remain online for more than six to eight hours? This issue requires further in-depth investigation,” he said.

Meta also claimed that its AI system could detect and block up to 95% of illegal content, while the remaining 5% involved rare and complex cases. However, the DE Ministry said the incident was serious because the content was accessed more than one million times within a short period.

At present, Section 15 of the Computer Crime Act requires social media platforms to block or remove illegal content within 24 hours of being notified. However, the DE Ministry believes this timeframe is “too slow” in an era when content can spread rapidly.

The ministry is therefore preparing to revise the rules to make them stricter for digital platforms. One key proposal is to require platforms to block illegal content immediately, instead of allowing up to 24 hours to act.

It is also considering tougher penalties in cases where platforms ignore clearly illegal content. Platforms could be interpreted as sharing responsibility for the damage caused if they fail to act quickly.

On law enforcement, the DE Ministry and the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA) have gathered evidence and submitted it to the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau and related agencies for legal action against the offenders.

At the same time, the ministry is preparing to hold talks with senior Meta executives to seek details on content-moderation measures, the operation of AI systems and steps to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

Another issue receiving the ministry’s attention is the behaviour of users who like, comment on or engage with illegal content. Although such actions are not currently considered offences in themselves, the DE Ministry is reviewing the rules because this type of interaction may cause platform algorithms to push the content to more users.

The ministry has therefore warned the public to avoid engaging with illegal content of any kind. Even if users are not the original publishers, liking or commenting may become an important factor in helping such content spread more widely.

The incident is therefore not merely a case of obscene clips appearing on social media. It reflects a much larger challenge in regulating digital platforms in the AI era: whether technology claimed to be highly effective is truly sufficient to handle illegal content that is using increasingly complex methods to evade detection.

At the same time, the Thai government is sending a clear signal that it intends to significantly tighten controls on digital platforms.