Thailand’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology blocked access to YouTube.com and several other Internet sites on Wednesday in a crackdown on material that was allegedly insulting to the country’s monarch. The Thai government asked Youtube's management to take down the video, but the request was refused on the grounds of freedom of speech. The video in question depicted the king with clown features painted onto his face and an image of feet pasted over his head. Winai Yoosabai, head of the censorship unit at the MCIT, 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. Since the military government came to power by overthrowing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last September, it has banned Web sites, instructed the media to minimize reporting about Thaksin and blacked out broadcasts of international news channels such as CNN.
The New York Times