Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 movie The Great Dictator features one of the greatest anti-authoritarian speeches of all time, so it’s no surprise that Thailand’s censorship-crazed king is abusing his country’s grotesque lese majeste laws to order Youtube to remove clips of Chaplin’s masterpiece.
Internet users reported on June 24 that the video clip with Thai subtitles was inaccessible on YouTube. The page for the video instead displayed the standard message: “This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government.”
June 24 is the day when Thailand commemorates the 1932 revolution which ended the country’s absolute monarchy.
The group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights said the request to block the video clip was probably made by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.
Veteran journalist Pravit Rojanaphruk wrote on Twitter that the junta’s order is “hilariously insane and dictatorial.”
At Thailand’s Request, YouTube Blocks Video Clip of Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Great Dictator’
[Mong Palatino/Global Voices]