Thai police have arrested 104 people so far this June, suspected of running online football gambling websites, with these sites being busted for a total of more than a billion baht, according to figures released by the government yesterday. .
The Minister of Digital Affairs, Economy and Society, Chaiwut Thanakhamanusorn, told a news conference that the ministry has joined forces with the National Police to tackle illegal gambling activities. The attack also saw an additional 255 suspects arrested for promoting online gambling, with 77 million baht in assets seized for inspection.
Meanwhile, police and the ministry have charged 28 suspects for sharing fake news and are preparing to charge 38 more, Chaiwut said, adding that most had said they were unaware of the inaccuracy. of the stories, they shared on social media.
However, the minister said that he had endorsed the content with their comments and that he was, therefore, guilty of defamation. Under the Computer Crime Act, the violators face up to five years in prison and/or a 100,000 baht fine.
In addition, those who spread fake news related to the Covid-19 outbreak could also be charged and sentenced to two years in prison and/or a fine of 40,000 baht, according to the Emergency Order.
He said the agents are still investigating 167 websites suspected of promoting online gambling. Police will seek court orders to block or remove the offending URLs from the Internet.
Chaiwut urged people to verify the validity of any news they post on their social media.
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