Legal options are a
start. The ultimate goal should be replacing Facebook, Twitter, and
Google with local alternatives like Russia, China, and many other
nations are already doing.
September 24, 2020 (Tony Cartalucci - LD) - The Thai government has begun legal proceedings against US-based social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Google. This comes at a time when nations around the globe have begun pushing back against the abusive American tech firms and their role in advancing US foreign policy and in particular, illegal US interventions including war.
Not
only are these US-based tech companies refusing to follow Thai laws
regarding sedition, libel, and disinformation targeting national
security and sociopolitical-economic stability, they have pursued a
one-sided policy of censoring information critical of ongoing US-backed
anti-government protests - shadow banning or outright censoring any and
all accounts attempting to share information about documented US
government funding behind the organizations involved.
Virtually every aspect of current, ongoing anti-government protests in Thailand are funded by the US government.
The
US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) - an organization created by
the US government, funded by the US Congress, and overseen by both
Congress and the US State Department - funds everything from the Thai
opposition's core leadership, to organizations petitioning the
government to rewrite the Thai constitution, to media organizations
promoting the protests, and even groups who physically bring people to
rallies.
Since verifying this information is as easy as going to the US NED's own official website,
Twitter, Facebook, and Google's concerted efforts to bury or altogether
ban accounts discussing this information on the grounds of "fake news"
is clear cut censorship designed specifically to aid US political
interference within Thailand's internal political affairs - a violation
of the UN Charter regarding political independence and non-interference
as well as a direct attack on Thailand's sovereignty.
Facebook, Twitter, and Google are Extensions of US Interventionism
This was admittedly done throughout the the US-engineered "Arab Spring" in 2011.
Facebook,
Twitter, and Google all openly serve as extensions of US special
interests having been documented to be working with the US government
and the US State Department in particular to use their platforms to help
advance US foreign policy.
This was admittedly done throughout the the US-engineered "Arab Spring" in 2011.
The New York Times in an article titled, "U.S. Groups Helped Nurture Arab Uprisings,"
not only admitted to the role the US government played in stirring up
unrest in the Arab World in 2011 - but also the role US-based social
media giants like Facebook and tech giant Google played, stating
(emphasis added):
Some Egyptian youth leaders attended a 2008 technology meeting in New York, where they were taught to use social networking and mobile technologies to promote democracy. Among those sponsoring the meeting were Facebook, Google, MTV, Columbia Law School and the State Department.
Google has also admittedly helped the US government in its efforts to violently overthrow the government of Syria. The Independent in a 2016 article titled, "Google planned to help Syrian rebels bring down Assad regime, leaked Hillary Clinton emails claim," would note Google's activities regarding Syria:
An interactive tool created by Google was designed to encourage Syrian rebels and help bring down the Assad regime, Hillary Clinton's leaked emails have reportedly revealed.Clearly, more is going on at Google than Internet searches - and a US tech giant involved in an illegal war to violently overthrow the government in Syria is a US tech giant that will willingly involve itself in other US interventions around the globe as it, Facebook, and Twitter are clearly doing in Thailand today.
By tracking and mapping defections within the Syrian leadership, it was reportedly designed to encourage more people to defect and 'give confidence' to the rebel opposition.
Targeting Thailand
Twitter
in particular has been actively involved in boosting the illusion of
popularity of Thai anti-government protests - hosting a massive online
army of automated and sockpuppet accounts. This "bot army" has helped
create numerous anti-government hashtags propelled to the top of
Twitter's "trending" list. These hashtags are then promptly the subject
of dishonest news articles across Western and local anti-government
media outlets citing them as "evidence" of wide public approval.
READ MORE: Twitter Bot Armies Target Thai Politics
Just
how unpopular Thailand's anti-government opposition is in real life can
easily be gauged by elections in which opposition parties lost by
several million votes, as well as during anti-government rallies in
which even paid, bused-in protesters are unable to fill modestly-sized
parks in the Thai capital of Bangkok.
In
addition to boosting the illusion of the protest's popularity, Twitter
and opposition groups also actively suppress and censor accounts
critical of the protests.
Facebook
and Google are likewise involved in similar, politically-motivated
activities in favor of anti-government protests. All three tech giants
have been confirmed to be involved in similar activities around the
globe.
Why
should Thailand tolerate foreign companies, operating so dishonestly,
and doing so specifically to cause harm to Thailand, its sociopolitical
and economic stability, and the Thai people who depend on both for their
daily lives?
The answer is Thailand shouldn't.
Nations like China and Russia have long-since fully replaced these US-based tech companies in their own information space.
Chinese
alternatives like TikTok are so popular that they have even created a
foothold in the West. Not only are Russia and China able to protect
their information space from the malicious activities of US tech giants
aimed at undermining both nations, all the profits and other benefits of
owning cutting edge tech companies are retained within Russian and
Chinese borders.
Other nations within Southeast Asia itself have been making similar moves to push out US tech companies. This includes Vietnam which has been a long-time target of both US military aggression and "soft power" intervention for decades.
Just
as Thailand procures weapons from nations like Russia and China to
defend its physical territory, it may also consider moving toward
similar deals in regards to acquiring the tools and technology required
to defend its information space.
The
creation of Thai alternatives to popular US-based social media and
Internet search companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google could be
quickly spurred along by recruiting celebrities to switch over to these
Thai platforms while continuing legal pressure to finally, completely
restrict the use of US alternatives.
This
is not simply because these companies are foreign. It is because they
have demonstrated for over a decade now a pattern of abusing their
access to information space around the globe to violate both local laws
and international laws prohibiting political interference, aggression,
and intervention.
These
are tech companies who have aided and abetted real world harm. The
nations of Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, Libya, and many others targeted
by the US in 2011 with the aid of these tech companies have been the
scenes of deadly street violence and even total war. Tens of thousands
have died with millions more displaced.
While
Thailand's grievances with these US-based tech companies at the moment
seem relatively minor, it should be remembered that Facebook, Twitter,
and Google are aiding protests that ultimately seek to replicate the
same sort of disruptive violent instability that consumed the Middle
East and more recently Hong Kong, China.
Legal
moves are a good start. Private and public preparations to fully
replace these companies within Thailand's information space will be the
only viable long-term solution.
