Bangkok (Thailand) - The Thai government announced today that it had lifted a state-sanctioned ban on Youtube after Google acquiesced to remove clips that were offensive to the country's reigning king.
On April 4, Thailand ordered Youtube be blocked from its state-run Internet service provider after someone posted offensive clips featuring Thailand's patriarchal monarch Bhumibl Adulyadej.
Thailand still carries an antiquated law that makes it illegal for anyone to cause "offense against the monarchy". At one point Thailand considered bringing criminal charges against Google for this offense, but international pressure caused these charges to be dropped.
King Adulyadej, who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is 79 years old and carries the title of the longest-reigning monarch in the world.
According to The Associated Press, Google, which owns Youtube, has implemented software that will weed out similarly offensive clips in the future and filter them from being accessible through the Thai Internet community.
On April 4, Thailand ordered Youtube be blocked from its state-run Internet service provider after someone posted offensive clips featuring Thailand's patriarchal monarch Bhumibl Adulyadej.
Thailand still carries an antiquated law that makes it illegal for anyone to cause "offense against the monarchy". At one point Thailand considered bringing criminal charges against Google for this offense, but international pressure caused these charges to be dropped.
King Adulyadej, who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is 79 years old and carries the title of the longest-reigning monarch in the world.
According to The Associated Press, Google, which owns Youtube, has implemented software that will weed out similarly offensive clips in the future and filter them from being accessible through the Thai Internet community.
