Facebook will bar foreign-based election advertisements in Thailand in the lead-up to March elections, the company said on Thursday, after being pilloried for not controlling election interference on the platform.
Thailand’s poll, set for March 24, is the first since a 2014 coup. Facebook has come under fire in a wave of scandals, including the fuelling of hate speech in Myanmar and over the sharing of its users’ data.
Facebook said in a newsroom post it would help “protect” the Thai vote by temporarily not allowing ads from “foreign entities which are of an electoral nature”.
The new rules, which cover paid-for content, will take effect from mid-February and will apply to external ads with references to “politicians, parties... and/or election suppression,” the post said. As in other countries in Southeast Asia, Facebook is wildly popular in Thailand where it has 52 million monthly users, according to the company.