The dispute stems from videos posted to the YouTube Web site on April 4 that contained images that the Thai government considered disrespectful to the country's 79-year-old monarch, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Among other things, the video clips depicted the king with feet above his head (a grave insult in Thai culture) and digitally altered his features to resemble a monkey.

ICT Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom told MCOT that YouTube sent an e-mail to the Thai government asking it to forward the allegedly insulting video clips to the company so that it could remove them from the YouTube site. However, the Minister dismissed YouTube's request as "playing a game."

The Crime of Lèse Majesté

Thailand is one of the few countries that still prosecutes individuals for the crime of lèse majesté, a French expression meaning "violating majesty," or committing an offense against the dignity of a reigning sovereign. King Bhumibol, who is currently the world's longest-serving monarch, is reportedly held in great respect by most of his subjects, and the reaction to the YouTube clips criticizing the king has been quite heated.

In addition to the official government response, several people have responded in kind by creating and posting videos defending the King on YouTube. A quick search of the King's name turns up nearly 250 clips, ranging from videos of official functions to commentaries both pro and con. Many of the videos, however, contain images similar to the ones to which Thailand originally objected.

Earlier this spring, Swiss national Oliver Jufer was convicted of lèse majesté for spray-painting portraits of the King while drunk. He was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was pardoned by King Bhumibol on April 12 and deported.

Is YouTube Dissing Thailand?

Much of the dispute seems to center on what Thailand perceives as Google's inconsistent treatment of Asian nations. Minister Sitthichai has frequently been quoted as saying that Google and YouTube have rejected Thailand's requests on free speech grounds while at the same time agreeing to censor their sites in China.

"Google has said they have no censorship policy," Minister Sitthichai said in a television interview in early April, "but earlier [it] agreed to censor its Web site in China when the same kind of dispute occurred, because China is so powerful compared to Thailand."

While rejecting charges of favoritism among nations, YouTube officials have said that the company is willing to work with the Thai ministry. In a press release, Julie Supan, head of YouTube communications , said that "[w]hile we will not take down videos that do not violate our policies, and will not assist in implementing censorship, we have offered to educate the Thai Ministry about YouTube and how it works. It's up to the Thailand government to decide whether to block specific videos, but we would rather that than have them block the entire site."

The issue, of course, is whether the Thai criminal and civil justice systems will find YouTube's response adequate. That's an interesting question, given the very different cultural and social assumptions held by Thailand and the United States.