Critics Decry Vietnam's 'Draconian' New Internet Law

Vietnam's Decree 147 mandates social media users on platforms like Facebook and TikTok to verify their identities and requires tech companies to store and share user data with authorities upon request, sparking concerns over increased censorship, self-censorship, and threats to free expression. Furthermore, the decree imposes restrictions on gaming time for minors and limits livestreaming to verified accounts. It becomes effective on Christmas Day. The Guardian reports: Decree 147, as it is known, builds on a 2018 cybersecurity law that was sharply criticized by the US, EU and internet freedom advocates who said it mimics China's repressive internet censorship. Critics say that decree 147 will also expose dissidents who post anonymously to the risk of arrest. 'Many people work quietly but effectively in advancing the universal values of human rights,' Ho Chi Minh City-based blogger and rights activist Nguyen Hoang Vi told AFP.

She warned that the new decree 'may encourage self-censorship, where people avoid expressing dissenting views to protect their safety -- ultimately harming the overall development of democratic values' in the country. Le Quang Tu Do, of the ministry of information and communications (MIC), told state media that decree 147 would 'regulate behavior in order to maintain social order, national security, and national sovereignty in cyberspace.'

Human Rights Watch is calling on the government to repeal the 'draconian' new decree. 'Vietnam's new Decree 147 and its other cybersecurity laws neither protect the public from any genuine security concerns nor respect fundamental human rights,' said Patricia Gossman, HRW's associate Asia director. 'Because the Vietnamese police treat any criticism of the Communist party of Vietnam as a national security matter, this decree will provide them with yet another tool to suppress dissent.'

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