14 DAY TRIAL // YouTube finally agreed to remove the offensive Thai clips posted on its page after the online video sharing service initially refused to block them. According to the YouTube employees, the clips didn't infringe any of the product's guidelines so the company refused to block them. However, the story continued with a lawsuit filed by the Thai authorities that decided to sue the parent company Google and force it to delete the videos. It seems that several offensive clips were published on YouTube, most of them insulting the country's king, an action that is strictly prohibited by the local laws. Reuters reported today that YouTube agreed to remove the clips from the page, adding that six of them were already deleted.
However, YouTube's representatives sent a letter to Communications Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom to inform him that two clips will remain available to the visitors as they were not flagged as offensive. "They appear to be political comments that are critical of both the government and the conduct of foreigners," it was mentioned in the letter according to Reuters. "Because they are political in nature, and not intended insults of His Majesty, we do not see a basis for blocking these videos," the letter also said.
Back in March, YouTube was 100 percent banned in the entire country because the authorities considered that the online video sharing service doesn't deserve to be visited by Thai users as long as it provides offensive clips. Now, the parent company Google struggles to resolve the problem but it's not quite clear if the government agrees to unban the service.
As you know, YouTube is often sued by other companies or persons because they consider the service infringes their copyright, the most famous suit being the one filed by Viacom. The owner of MTV and Comedy Central sued Google and required $1 billion in damages for publishing videos without authorization.