News analysis

S-E Asian govts pressure social media giants to control content

Tussle over online platforms growing contentious as more consume news on them

Vietnam reportedly took Facebook's local servers offline this year until the company agreed to increase censorship of "anti-state" posts by its Vietnamese users. PHOTO: AFP
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High school senior Pimyada Panyapuwased uses Facebook and Instagram to talk to her peers, Twitter to express her thoughts, and the Line messaging app to communicate with her parents.

Social media, says the 17-year-old girl, is her soapbox because mainstream media content is dominated by the state or older folk. So she was dismayed when the Thai government recently made police reports against Twitter and Facebook after the companies failed to restrict online content it deemed illegal.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on October 11, 2020, with the headline S-E Asian govts pressure social media giants to control content. Subscribe