Prayut said the only thing the government could do was to seek court orders addressing specific URLs and have social media providers cooperate by blocking those web addresses.

“All we can do is ask for cooperation from foreign countries, the private sector and Internet service providers,” the premier said.

“It’s because we have no better options.”

The 131 web addresses in question were found to have content deemed insulting to the monarchy or threatening national security.

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission last week gave Facebook Thailand a deadline – until 10am Tuesday to take down the 131 URLs.

Failure to do so may result in legal action, the watchdog said.

Thailand is the most active country on Facebook in Asia.