At the request of the military, Thailand’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry (ICT) blocked Facebook for about an hour on Wednesday.  And more social media black outs are planned, as the coup leaders try to stifle calls to gather people for protests.

“We have blocked Facebook temporarily and (Thursday) we will call a meeting with other social media, like Twitter and Instagram, to ask for cooperation from them,” said ICT permanent secretary Surachai Srisaracam.  The junta claimed the outage was caused by a technical problem.  But Surachai admitted the site had been blocked to stop people from criticizing the military in the wake of a 22 May coup.

It failed miserably.  Millions of Thais use Facebook, and many of them almost immediately went to Twitter, emails, and other instant messaging services to find out what was wrong.  Frustrated people started posting messages likening the junta to China or North Korea.  The protests go on, with rank and file troops taking the abuse their masters invited.

Military rulers have already banned gatherings, imposed curfews, and arrested scores of politicians, professors, and activists.  Fewer than half have been released.  Foreign news channels like CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera have been blocked.