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Google offers help to Thai authorities

However, YouTube has rejected the Thai authorities' request to pull down the videos that are disrespectful to the country's revered monarch.

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BANGKOK: A globally popular Internet video-sharing service has offered to help Thai authorities block local access  to offensive clips on its site that have outraged the nation’s  cultural sensitivities and violated the strict lese majeste law.

However, YouTube, owned by Internet search engine company Google, has rejected the Thai authorities' request to pull down the videos that are disrespectful to the country's revered monarch.

A YouTube spokeswoman was quoted as saying that the company was ready to 'educate' Thai authorities in making individual videos inaccessible locally instead of blocking the entire site.

Access to YouTube has been blocked in Thailand since the first video clip appeared a few days back.

“While we'll not yank 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 country's government to decide whether to block specific videos,” YouTube spokeswoman Julie Supan said.

Thailand's Information and Communications Technology Ministry said it would consider the technical possibility of restricting access to individual videos on YouTube without blocking the entire website. While some international media rights groups have criticised the blocking of the website, people in Thailand have hit out at the use of YouTube to offend Thai sensitivities.

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