Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing issues associated with online IDs and facial recognition; let's jump in here.

Real quickly, before I get into this, there are those that say, "hey, you make a lot of content, we really appreciate it but I don't necessarily need to avail myself of a lawyer right now or a law firm, is there any way we can support you?" This channel is not monetized. So yeah, one way you could support us though, my better half and I set up a restaurant here in downtown Bangkok, the name is Pancake Palace. As the name implies breakfast anytime; American style diner food, and we've got hamburgers, cheeseburgers, buffalo wings, grilled cheese sandwiches. We've even got tacos, again as well as American style breakfast, we have even got an English breakfast on the menu. Anytime if you're interested, please feel free to check out the links in the description below; we'd love to see you at Pancake Palace. So just an aside there. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from, it was actually a posting on X from the Thai Enquirer, that's @ThaiEnquirer on X. Quoting directly: "Thailand to Require Facial Scans for Online Ads to Combat Cross-Border Scams. Thailand will require online advertisers to verify their identities through facial recognition or Digital ID Systems under new anti-cybercrime regulations set to take effect in November 2026. People's Party MP Pawoot Ponvitayapanu said the new "Technology Crime Prevention Measures (No. 2)" regulations, announced by the Electronic Transactions Commission on May 5, would force social media platforms to conduct know-your-customer checks before allowing paid advertisements targeting users in Thailand." Quoting further: "Advertisers will be required to verify their identities using facial scans linked to National ID cards or approved Digital ID systems." 

Look, this whole notion of digital ID, it's really totalitarian, and it's not just Thailand. The US has this new ID.me thing that is associated with being able to claim Government benefits and things. I'm really at my wit's end with this stuff. I hate all of this, and at some point, I'm probably going to end up having to like become Amish or something and just separate myself from the world if this is the trend of this. Now that said, this seems to be relatively limited in scope insofar as it pertains to folks trying to do paid advertising on the public in Thailand. But as with everything, it always metastasizes if you will. 

That said, quoting further: "Platforms must also retain advertiser and payment data for at least 90 days after advertisements end. Pawoot said the measures were aimed at preventing foreign scam networks from purchasing advertisements targeting Thai users." Oh, okay. But there is always a pretext for these things. It is just like when they rolled out "money laundering" back during the '80s. It was all because drug dealers were trying to hide money, notwithstanding the fact if you go back further in American history, there was no illegality of drugs. If you were a grown person, you wanted to ingest whatever you wanted to ingest in your body or whatever, that was your own business. It was already government overreach to start restricting that stuff to begin with, and then to say, "oh because of our restrictions, people are working around it with their money and therefore now we have got to put on more restrictions." It's just a constant negative feedback loop of more totalitarianism. That said, quoting further: "Foreign advertisers will also be required to submit passports or corporate registration documents before running ads in Thailand. He added that platforms such as Facebook, Google and TikTok could face legal action if they fail to enforce the verification requirements."

Again I mean I do sort of see the underlying reasoning here, trying to sort of protect the Thai public from the possibility of scams etc., but it's kind of one of those 'is the cure worse than the disease' insofar as now we all have got to subject ourselves to digital ID in order to advertise in Thailand, or facial recognition or whatever. This is really Orwellian stuff and what's fascinating is if you go back 20 years when people like me and others would bring this stuff up and say, "hey this is concerning", we were all laughed out of the room, as being just crazy to think this could even happen. And now it's foisted upon us as a foregone conclusion. 

So again, I can rant on and on about this stuff and I know there are viewers that actually rather enjoy that, I don't want to I get too deep into that in this video, but again, this sort of overarching trend of further totalitarianism is just, it has really gone beyond the pale; I don't know how to put it any other way. But it's sad is what it is, and I really don't like to see this evolution, and frankly, I think this is antithetical to basic notions of being Thai at the end of the day. I mean just sort of basic Thai liberties if you will. That said, it remains to be seen how this plays out. We will certainly be keeping folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.