Facebook users in Thailand are currently blocked from seeing a video featuring the country’s king floating through a German mall wearing a crop top and hanging with one of his mistresses.
Vice reports the video was banned because Thailand’s government finds it insulting to the king.
According to a Facebook spokesperson:
“When governments believe something on the internet violates their laws, they may contact companies like Facebook and ask us to restrict access to that content.”
Related: PHOTOS: Unintentionally Censored Olympic Pics Make These Athletes Look Like Adult Film Stars
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Facebook is facing sharp criticism for its censorship policy, which defers to requests by authoritarian regimes to censor content. Last year, those policies were put under scrutiny after the social network censored a Vietnam-era photograph of the naked 9-year-old “napalm girl.”
Facebook admitted to Vice it was blocking anyone in Thailand from seeing the vid of 64-year-old King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, captured several months before his father passed away and he ascended to the throne.
You can see the video in a Twitter post by journalist Andrew Marshall:
Facebook is geoblocking this video of Thailand's King Vajiralongkorn so users in Thailand can't see it pic.twitter.com/QAE2SNr2KY
— Andrew MacG Marshall (@zenjournalist) May 5, 2017
A Thai citizen filmed the video at the Riem Arcaden mall in Munich on June 10, 2016.
Related: Given Another Chance, Steven Spielberg Would Totally Censor The Color Purple’s Lesbian Content Again
According to Vice, King Vajiralongkorn (which means “adorned with jewels or thunderbolts”) took to the throne in December
following the death of his father, the much-loved King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Although details of his extravagant and controversial lifestyle were widely reported outside of Thailand when he was crown prince, his subjects for the most part remain oblivious, thanks in no small to the country’s strict lèse-majesté laws, which effectively prevent citizens from openly discussing any details of the new king’s life.
“So a video like this chucks a bomb into all of that,” Marshall tells Vice.
“While people may not necessarily be surprised, I think it would have a significant impact if it was widely seen, it would help puncture the bubble of the monarchy.”
According to a Facebook spokesperson, when they receive censorship requests “it is scrutinized to determine if the specified content does indeed violate local laws.”
“If we determine that it does, then we make it unavailable in the relevant country or territory and notify people who try to access it why it is restricted.”
Gennie Gebharta, a researcher for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), says Facebook is in a rather tricky position:
“This and other ongoing Thai government attempts to censor social media point to both the government’s increasing willingness to censor content critical of the monarchy as well as all the hurdles it faces in doing so in an HTTPS-encrypted, social media environment.”
After Marshall posted the video to Facebook last month, the Thai government banned citizens from contacting him (as well as two more critics of the regime) via social media.
One of those people was activist Somsak Jeamteerasakul, who was told by Facebook representatives what content was going to be blocked, and why.
Here’s the letter Dr. Somsak received:
Marshall says he is somewhat sympathetic to Facebook’s predicament:
“They are caught in the middle, because Thailand has these ridiculous laws, where anything you say that is deemed critical of the monarchy can get you jail sentences of hundreds of years.”
Jere
How funny! In 2017, you’d think that a public person who objects to being photographed in a particular get up or with his mistress would just dress more appropriately or not parade around in public with the mistress. He was in a mall, not a place where anyone has any expectation of privacy. Even if Facebook has blocked this, you can bet that whatever system the Thais have rigged up to bypass the censorship laws is all over this little tidbit.
captainburrito
Speculation here but he might not actually give a shit. It might be the perennial coup d’etat government that cares because he is a puppet / figurehead that gives a facade of continuity and business as usual.
Darrellx
64 and rocking a crop top?–daring and admirable! love the tattoos!
avesraggiana
He could certainly use the workout at the gym. This so-called King is an out-and-out disgrace to the name of the Thai royal family.
niles
I hate Facebook
BriBri
Smart users will use a VPN and get whatever they want.
Curtispsf
The people of Thailand do not just DISLIKE the current King. They HATE him and will tell “farong”, or foreigners, how he was implicated in several murders, rumored to be involved in smuggling gems and is an all around “butterfly” = “playboy”. Thais will also tell you that he “is not a nice person” or is a “bad” man, which is the ultimate insult for a Thai. And they will always compare him to his father who was revered throughout the country as a kind and caring man with a good heart. Not this one. And parading around in public dressed like “that” with his mistress is considered to be very very rude. Being rude is something scorned upon in Thailand. Unfortunately, censorship by the monarchy, is a VERY real threat to the average Thai citizen.
He BGB
He needs to shorten his name.
KaiserVonScheiss
Personal opinion: crop tops are stupid. What is the point of wearing half a shirt?
Even as a monarchist, I oppose these kinds of laws.
Jack Meoff
They should block the whole world from seeing that because that shit is just wrong.
1EqualityUSA
“Vajiralongkorn” Adorned with jewels, thunderbolts, or fake tattoos that wash off.