Thailand is the new China
No, that’s not a new slogan for the Thai tourism bureau. Instead, it’s the sad reality that Google is again aiding and abetting foreign governments’ desires to censor speech and limit access to knowledge.
Although freedom of speech was guaranteed by the 1997 Constitution of Thailand, Lèse majesté laws remain largely in effect, making any criticism of the King a crime. Well, guess what. Some YouTube videos were deemed critical of His Majesty, and the Thai government temporarily blocked the site and threatened to sue Google. Of the twelve “offending” videos, six were removed by the original uploaders, two were defended by Google (to their credit) as being legitimate political commentary, but four are being removed by Google in order to appease the Thai government officials.
Honestly, I don’t understand how the public can so easily raise arms against foreign entities who “hate our freedoms,” yet allow companies like Google to capitulate to other foreign governments who are persistent violators of these most basic freedoms.
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