[JURIST] The Thai government announced Friday that it has decided not to sue internet search giant Google [corporate website] after the company agreed to remove a YouTube video considered insulting to Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej [Wikipedia profile]. In April Thailand banned [JURIST report] access to the popular video-sharing website YouTube [corporate website], now owned by Google, for hosting a video depicting the king as a clown with feet pasted over his head, an insulting image in Thai culture that can amount to a criminal offense. The video, less than a minute long, received more than 16,000 viewers.

Critics say the government is using the ban as an excuse to ban websites critical of the September 19 military coup [JURIST news archive] that overthrew former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. AP has more.