Facebook on Monday blocked access within Thailand to a group with 1 million members that discusses His Majesty the King, after the government threatened legal action.

The move comes amid near daily youth-led protests against the government and unprecedented calls for reforms of the monarchy.

The "Royalist Marketplace" group was created in April by Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a self-exiled academic and critic of the monarchy.

On Monday night, the group's page brought up a message: "Access to this group has been restricted within Thailand pursuant to a legal request from the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society."

Mr Pavin, who lives in Japan, said Facebook had bowed to the military-dominated government's pressure.



"Our group is part of a democratisation process, it is a space for freedom of expression," Mr Pavin told Reuters.



Facebook declined to answer Reuters questions about blocking the group.

The company has said that when it receives complaints of posts violating local laws, it may restrict the availability of the content in the country.