Line's adventure park to make global debut in #Bangkok

Line Village Bangkok says it will open a Line Village merchandise store on Friday before fully opening its doors in the capital's Siam Square at a cost of 500 million baht (US$14.7 million). (www.facebook.com/linevillagebangkok/ File) 

 The world's first indoor adventure park featuring friend characters of Japan's immensely popular messaging app provider Line Corp. will open later this year in Bangkok.

Line Village Bangkok says it will open a Line Village merchandise store on Friday before fully opening its doors in the capital's Siam Square at a cost of 500 million baht ($14.7 million).

The adventure park will showcase the houses of Line sticker characters -- Brown, Cony, Moon, James, Boss and Choco -- as well as photo shoot spots and digital games.

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 It anticipates 12 million visitors a year. Ticket prices will be around 800 baht. Kampanart Wonghongkul, chief executive officer of Fire Dragon International Co., says his Thai firm has been granted a license by Line Friends Corp., a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based messaging app company, to run the amusement facility. He expressed hope that Line Village will become a new tourist attraction in Bangkok.

According to Line Thailand, the Southeast Asian country is its second-largest market after Japan as more than 94 percent of Thais using mobile internet are Line users. 

 Read also: LINE introduces WAVE, its first smart home device

Source - TheJakartaPost
 

Thai junta pressures Google, Facebook, Line to censor content

Thailand's junta is ramping up pressure on internet giants Google and Facebook — and the popular messaging app Line — to scrub the country's web of any content it dislikes, officials confirmed yesterday.

The military seized power in a 2014 coup and has launched the harshest rights crackdowns in decades, arresting critics, muzzling the media and banning political gatherings or protests.

The web, in particular social media, has remained one of the few avenues open to Thais to speak out — though not without risks. Prosecutions have soared with many arrested for online posts.

Junta officials are now seeking face-to-face meetings with major web companies to try and speed up how quickly they take down objectionable content.

 

Police Major-General Pisit Paoin, from the junta's committee on mass media reform, said officials would meet with Google, Facebook and Line over the next three months "to ask for their co-operation in dealing with illegal images or clips that affect security and the nation's core institution."

"There have been tens of thousand of the illegal posts over the past five years," he said.

Officials held the first of their meetings with Google recently. Minutes of that meeting were leaked last week by hackers and later published widely by local media showing Thai officials are pushing for big web companies to agree to takedowns without a court order.

Maj-Gen Pisit said large web companies have reacted with reluctance over the past five years to previous requests to censor content.

"We have received better response from Google in the US (since the meeting)," he said. "Now we plan on talking with Line and Facebook."

Globally, web firms must comply with local laws and routinely block content within that country if presented with a court order.

But the leaked minutes suggest the Thai junta want a far more lenient standard adopted.

In a statement Line said it "has yet to be contacted by an official entity requesting such censorship" but added that "the privacy of Line users is our top priority."

"Once we have been officially contacted, we will perform our due diligence towards the related parties and consider an appropriate solution that does not conflict with our company's global standards, nor the laws of Thailand," the statement added.

The Japanese company is by far the most popular social messaging app in Thailand and is even used by many government ministries and police stations to officially brief media.

Last week, a man was arrested for sharing a video allegedly mocking junta leader Prayuth Chan-o-cha with his friends on Line, suggesting the Thai authorities are already monitoring the messenger for content it disapproves of.

Facebook and Google have yet to respond to AFP's requests for comment.

Source: Coconuts.co

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