BANGKOK, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Since its launch of the "anti-fake news center" on November 1, the Thai Digital Economy and Society Ministry on Wednesday announced that it has detected nearly 8,000 fake news items online.
"Since its launch, we have detected 7,962 messages with false news content," said Minister of Digital Economy and Society Puttipong Punnakanta. "Most of the misleading information with intent to deceive the public were related to bogus health products."
The minister said that about 15 percent of fake news had contents inciting social division and affecting national security.
The launch of the "anti-fake news center" was aimed at correcting online content that misleads people or damages the country's image, Puttipong said.
The anti-fake news center is staffed by around 30 officers at a time, who will review online content, gathered through "social listening" tools, on a sweeping range of topics from natural disasters, the economy, health products and illicit goods.
If officers suspect something is false, they will flag it to relevant authorities to issue corrections through the center's social media platforms and website and through the Thai media.
