Information and Communications Technology Minister Man Pattanothai said that so far internet service providers had not dared to block websites found to have lèse majesté content for fear of breaching the National Telecommunications Commission law that forbids blocking information flows, with a maximum penalty of licence revocation.

After consulting with the National Telecommunications Commission, the ICT Ministry has assured all ISPs that they will not be subject to the penalty if they block the truly offensive websites, said the Minister.

“The National Telecommunications Commission has confirmed with the ministry that blocking websites offensive to the royal family can be carried out without breaching the law.  Therefore, the ICT Ministry can guarantee all ISPs that their licenses will not be revoked,” said the Minister.

To avoid confusion among the ISPs and to achieve efficiency, the ICT Ministry has assigned Sarawuth Petchphanomporn, Secretary to the ICT Minister, Thanirat Siripachana, MICT Inspector, and Vinai Yusabai, Director of the Bureau of Information Technology to be in charge, and the ISPs will have to follow orders from them.

ICT Minister said that there had been an order from ‘high above’ not to block the websites and to allow the free flow of information, on the grounds that foreigners do not understand the blocking and may form negative perceptions.