Thailand Bans YouTube

BANGKOK, April 4 — Thailand’s military-appointed government blocked access to YouTube and several other Internet sites on Wednesday in a crackdown on material that denigrates the country’s monarch.

“We have blocked YouTube because it contains a video insulting to our king,” said Winai Yoosabai, head of the censorship unit at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.

Thailand’s ban on YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site, came after YouTube’s owner, Google, refused to remove the video clip, the communications minister, Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom, said.

The clip, crude and amateurish and lasting less than a minute, depicts the king with clown features painted onto his face and an image of feet pasted over his head, an insulting gesture in Thailand.

The Thai crackdown follows similar moves elsewhere this year against YouTube, the Internet site that allows users to easily upload, share and watch video clips.

Last month, Turkey cut off access to the site for several days to block a video deemed insulting to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey. Insulting Ataturk is a criminal offense in Turkey.

A court in Brazil ordered access to YouTube blocked for several days in January after clips of a prominent model cavorting in the sea with her lover kept reappearing on the site.

The bans come as governments and private companies grapple with the posting of controversial and copyrighted material on the Internet.

YouTube was purchased by Google in November for $1.6 billion. Some analysts have suggested that YouTube could turn into a liability for the search company.

Viacom, the owner of MTV, recently announced a $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube.

Acknowledging that the Internet presents “new and unique cultural challenges,” Julie Supun, head of global communications for YouTube, said the company was “disappointed” that the site had been blocked in Thailand.

“We are currently looking into the matter,” Ms. Supun said in a statement on Wednesday. “You Tube reaches a wide global audience and strives to provide a community where people from around the world can express themselves by sharing videos in a safe and lawful manner.”

In Thailand, insulting King Bhumibol Adulyadej is a criminal offense. Last week, a Swiss man convicted of vandalizing images of the king and Queen Sirikit was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Since the military government came to power with the overthrow of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last September, it has banned Web sites, instructed the media to minimize reporting about Mr. Thaksin and has at times blacked out broadcasts of international news channels like CNN. Reporting in newspapers remains lively and apparently uncensored, except for criticism of the monarchy.

Mr. Winai said his department was looking for the person responsible for posting the clip of the king, which had been viewed more than 16,000 times and was posted by someone using the name Paddidda.