Google is Set to Censor YouTube in Thailand

By BILL CONDIE

GOOGLE, which is enlisting American trade negotiators to fight growing internet censorship, has agreed to censor its own YouTube site in Thailand.

The company, with the corporate motto Do No Evil, yesterday said censorship was its number one barrier to business but the firm continues to send out mixed signals on the problem.

Google’s video-sharing site YouTube was blocked throughout Thailand by the country’s military dictatorship after a clip critical of the country’s king was posted there.

But Thai information technology minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom says a limited form of the site may soon reappear when Google makes good on its promise to censor its site by blocking Thai viewers from seeing “improper content”.

Sitthichai admits to closing about 200 websites since the military seized power from elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a coup last September.

The compromise is embarrassing for Google which, despite its talk, has been willing to collude with Asian governments on censorship.

It agreed to censor sites in China as a condition to operating in the country..

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