Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn on Friday sought to walk back his earlier remarks in Parliament that authorities had used spyware to monitor individuals in the country.
Under questioning on Tuesday from opposition lawmakers alleging that Israeli-made Pegasus spyware was used against pro-democracy activists, Mr Chaiwut said he was aware surveillance software was being used, adding it was for national security and drug-related cases.
But in an about-face on the final day of the censure debate on Friday, Mr Chaiwut said his comments were general observations and not specifically about Thailand.
“I said I knew of the system that is used on security and drug (suppression) but I did not say that it existed in the Thai government,” he told parliament of Friday.
Authorities have come under pressure following an exhaustive investigation by Thai Lawyers for Human Rights and two international tech firms that concluded Pegasus was used to hack the phones of at least 30 Thai political activists and government critics, going back to 2014.
Pegasus has been used by governments to spy on journalists, activists and dissidents around the world, and its creator NSO Group has been sued by Apple and placed on a US trade blacklist.
NSO group has yet to respond to questions from Reuters about the Thailand allegations.
The Royal Thai Police have denied using spyware in any security operations to surveil people or violate their rights. That has led opposition politicians to speculate that Pegasus might have been acquired by a military-linked entity or the Internal Security Operations Command.