In January of 2017 the Computer Crimes Act, B.E 2550 (CCA) was amended, providing, amongst other things, additional detail on computer data classifications that justify orders to suspend online dissemination of content. With the additional clarity provided in the 2017 amendments, the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society of Thailand began more actively pursuing online content that it considered to be in violation of the CCA or to be compromising Thai national security as provided in the Penal Code. As a result, the number of court orders issued to suspend the dissemination of online content has risen significantly over the past few years. At the same time as this escalation of court orders to take-down or otherwise remove certain online content, there had been little or no attempt to challenge such orders, largely due to the fact that orders are issued on an ex-parte basis and because of an absence of any clear method to appeal provided in the CCA. It was not until October of 2020, more than three years after the CCA amendments, that the public learned for the first time that a challenge to a previously issued court order for the takedown of content was successfully made. In such case, the court accepted a petition in opposition to the court takedown order and scheduled an additional hearing, ruling it proper to re-conduct the hearing and giving both parties the opportunity to provide the court with full information to decide on the challenge. While this was good news for the content providers and users in this case, the court, nonetheless, failed to provide specific criteria on what would justify a court ordering an opposition hearing or on when it would allow an opposition to even be filed with the court. In February of 2021 a second challenge

Expected to be promulgated in August 2021, Vietnam’s Decree on e-Identification and Authentication, currently in draft form, will be the first to provide a comprehensive legal basis for managing, providing and using e-identification and authentication services.

New regulations prohibit trade in meme tokens, fan tokens, non-fungible tokens, and native utility tokens in Thailand, and requires digital asset exchanges to revise their listing rules and conditions by July 10, 2021.

Lawyers from Tilleke & Gibbins in Bangkok have updated the Thailand section of the Digital Business Global Guide, a Q&A-style guide from Thomson Reuters Practical Law that provides detailed information on the regulatory environment surrounding digital business operations in 38 countries around the world. The Thailand overview covers the following main topics: Regulatory overview Setting up and running a business online Cybersecurity, data privacy, and data protection implications Linking Domain names Jurisdiction and governing law Advertising/marketing Tax Protecting an online business Liability for products/services supplied online Insurance Reform Practical Law, produced by Thomson Reuters, is the world’s leading legal know-how resource for business lawyers, publishing a huge range of guides covering hundreds of jurisdictions and practice areas. The full Digital Business in Thailand: Overview is available on the Practical Law website.