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BANGKOK - Television screens went blue and up flashed the army's emblem, normal programming stopped and Thailand held its breath. For anyone looking forward to their favorite show, it was going to be a long wait.

Half-an-hour later - around 4:30 p.m. on Thursday - army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha appeared on all channels and said the army was taking control of government so Thailand could "be at peace again".

One of the first actions taken by the generals now running the country was to impose sweeping censorship across the media.

The crackdown on the media appeared to be more vigorous than after the last of Thailand's frequent coups, in 2006, perhaps, according to some observers, due to greater opposition to the army's action and a more defiant "blogosphere" online.

"Measures became more aggressive after the coup announcement and now critical opinions are not allowed to be published, broadcast or circulated," said a television presenter at a state-run station, who declined to be named for fear of breaking the law. "The military have threatened prosecution for any defiance."

Prayuth's announcement was followed by bulletins from the army's own channel, interspersed with patriotic martial music.

Radio and television stations were ordered to suspend normal programming and air only military broadcasts and official content. Media outlets that tried live streaming online through YouTube channels were soon closed.

The blackout extended to foreign broadcasters including CNN, the BBC and Aljazeera. By mid-afternoon on Friday, none were back on air.

NO STRANGERS TO CENSORSHIP

Thai journalists are no strangers to censorship. Despite an often raucous media, Thailand has draconian lese-majeste laws designed to protect the monarchy and frequently ranks near the bottom of press freedom indexes.

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Thai media chafe under junta censorship

In the most high-profile act of censorship yet, Twitter, which hails itself as a tool of free speech in oppressive regimes, was found to have blocked blasphemous and unethical tweets on behalf of the government of Pakistan at least five times in May alone. All of the censorship requests came from a Pakistani bureaucrat who wanted Twitter to block material related to anti-Islamic content, the New York Times reports.

While Twitter does have a country-specific censorship policy, which they implemented in 2012 to help the company adhere to local speech laws, this is the first time that the companys actively blocked tweets in Pakistan. As the Times elaborates, it comes at a time when Pakistans government is flexing its censorship abilities, even going so far as to remove an entire op-ed criticizing Pakistani censorship from the pages of the Times itself, leaving a conspicuously blank page:

A number of the accounts seemed to have been blocked in anticipation of the fourth annual Everybody Draw Muhammad Day on May 20.

This censorship comes as challenges to Pakistans draconian blasphemy law have become increasingly deadly, amid a flurry of arrests, killings and assassination attempts on secularists

A civil rights group in Pakistan concerned with Internet access, Bolo Bhi, called the legitimacy of the requests forwarded by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to Twitter questionable. The law that defines the regulators power, the group explained, does not in any form give P.T.A. the authority to arbitrarily restrict content on the Internet.

In a strange coda, they also blocked blasphemous material related to Duke University student and porn star Belle Knox.

[NYT h/t Valleywag] [Image via 1000 Words / Shutterstock.com]

>> Follow Tina Nguyen (@Tina_Nguyen) on Twitter

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Twitter Caught Censoring Blasphemous Tweets on Behalf of Pakistani Government

Television censorship isn't what it used to be. Back in the day, TV couples had to keep their beds separated, you couldn't say the word "pregnant," and Mary Tyler Moore almost wasn't allowed to wear pants. These days, things are more liberal. I mean, we here at The Soupshowed a 130-lb scrotum and got away with saying "wet muff" on TV. Repeatedly.

So imagine our surprise when we came across this clip from the original Flintstonescartoon from the early 1960's and heard what we're pretty damn sure is a dick joke coming out of Barney Rubble's mouth:

Here's the thing, though: The Flintstonesweren't exactly the apex of comedy, so we're hesitant to give them credit for this. The way we see it, this was either:

A.) A bad joke about Barney needing three heads to be tall B.) A bad joke about Barney not being able to count properly C.) A straight-up joke about Barney Rubble's caveman penis

Sadly, we'll never know the real answer, because the writers behind this joke were promptly executed for their transgressions against the censors. We're pretty sure that's how things worked back then.

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