I had heard about it, but I still laughed out loud when I tried to load YouTube in Thailand today. It is blocked. I’m living in a censored democracy.
I absolutely deplore this type of censorship, particularly when it becomes so stupid as to block a site as general as YouTube. I have heard, purely anecdotally, that YouTube is blocked because somebody published a video critical of the King of Thailand. Ironically, I’ve also heard the King himself objects to such censorship.
So, here is my open invitation to anyone in Thailand. If you would like to access YouTube, please contact me and I will personally give you access to a proxy that will allow you to bypass the censorship. Vive la revolucion!
Here’s the current top rated video on YouTube for your viewing pleasure (if you’re not in Thailand of course!):
I’m surprised your site’s not blocked with that photo!
hey callum, i will be in bangkok on the last week of may. hope to see you there!
Could you please advise how to get access to youtube in thailand. Love the site.
Thank you so much!
well! and I heard that our gov. is going to sue Youtube!! Three cheers to Thai government! LOL this is ridiculous
I just don’t get what they’re trying to do. So childish.
Dear Callum,
Could you please send me the link. I have nothing to do with the censored video, but would like to access all the other interesting videos. Thank you.
could you please help me out with youtube. I really want to access it. hell with thai information and communication department!
Shortly after posting this I discovered that there are a ton of YouTube proxies out there. A quick scroogle search for YouTube proxy reveals a few.
I’m now pretty sure that the “official” reason for blocking YouTube was because of a video posted about the king. I’ve also heard, purely anecdotally, that the underlying motive was because Thaksin Shinawat (the ex prime minister of Thailand) uses YouTube to publish videos. I’ve heard of small, community radio stations being shut down for broadcasting non-political interviews with Thaksin.
Gotta love Thailand.
Can u email a new proxy site?? i live in thailand 2 and this goverment just pisses me off. Oh and http://www.vtunnel.com has already been blocked. u know of any others?
@Matteo: The link I posted above (scroogle search for youtube proxy) returns over 10 proxies which are not blocked in Thailand.
I still can’t access youtube with any of those proxies. can you help me in any other way?
@Rahul, I’m afraid I’m no longer in Thailand so I don’t know what works and what doesn’t work any more. Best of luck with your search. If you do find a site that works, feel free to post the link back here. Cheers – Callum.
very nicely done article, thank you.
Callum,
Hi I think something new may be up on this issue. I am able to continue loading my videos to YouTube, but whenever I try to view it from YouTube, FaceBook, youtubeproxy.org (defunct) or even their IP address 208.65.153.253 I am unable. Nothing has been in the news because it is made to seem as if there is a delay in loading (hours) or that YouTube has purposefully removed inappropriate content. ie) children laughing (a convenient lie) No I think this is the Thai Govt’s passive-aggressive way of dealing with all the criticism from last year. Anyway, could you send me your workaround, I’d like to view the videos that I have uploaded.
Sean
@Sean S.: YouTube is no longer blocked in Thailand, although the internet is slow, so it can be difficult to access the videos. If you’re having issues with videos not being uploaded or not visible, I’d recommend contacting YouTube support. As the site is no longer blocked, I’m no longer offering access to a proxy.