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Thailand steps up crackdown on online e-cigarette smuggling

From March 2024 until March 19, 2025, the ministry blocked 9,515 URLs that sell or import e-cigarettes. Some 9,200 X accounts, 235 websites, 28 Facebook accounts, 12 Instagram accounts and 14 TikTok accounts were closed.

Thailand steps up crackdown on online e-cigarette smuggling. (Photo: Bangkok Post)
Thailand steps up crackdown on online e-cigarette smuggling. (Photo: Bangkok Post)

Bangkok (VNA) - Thailand's Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (DES) has blocked over 9,500 URLs linked to e-cigarette sales over the past year.

This move is part of the government's intensified efforts to clamp down on all online platforms, including social media accounts and websites, being used for e-cigarette trade and smuggling.

From March 2024 until March 19, 2025, the ministry blocked 9,515 URLs that sell or import e-cigarettes. Some 9,200 X accounts, 235 websites, 28 Facebook accounts, 12 Instagram accounts and 14 TikTok accounts were closed.

The ministry also shut down 120 Facebook groups linked to e-cigarettes. Deputy government spokeswoman Sasikarn Wattanachan also said that the ministry used social listening tools and data monitoring tools and found 285 posts on e-cigarettes from sellers and 93 posts from buyers.

According to the Consumer Protection Act, those who sell e-cigarettes and related equipment could face a three-year jail term, a maximum fine of 600,000 THB (17,600 USD), or both.

Sasikarn said an importer could be jailed for at least ten years and fined five times the cost of the imported items. Buyers can also be jailed for at least five years and fined four times the cost of the items they had bought./.

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