Sharing news on social media banned in Vietnam
In their continuing stranglehold on online freedom, the Vietnamese government will ban bloggers and users of Facebook and Twitter from sharing news stories according to a new decree signed by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung.
The heavily censored, Communist-run country said the hugely popular social media sites should only be used “to provide and exchange personal information”.
Specifically, Decree 72 on “Management, Provision, Use of Internet Services and Information Content Online” states that blogs and social media sites must only contain personal information.
“Personal electronic sites are only allowed to put news owned by that person, and are not allowed to ‘quote’, ‘gather’ or summarize information from press organizations or government websites,”according to Hoang Vinh Bao, director of the Broadcasting and Electronic Information Department at the Ministry of Information and Communications.
The ban is expected to be put into force in September. However, it is not clear how the law will be implemented or what the penalties will be.
The law also bans internet service providers from making available “information that is against Vietnam, undermining national security, social order and national unity… or information distorting, slandering and defaming the prestige of organizations, honor and dignity of individuals”.
Vietnam joins Syria, China, Iran and Bahrain as the countries most actively involved in the surveillance of news providers, according to the group, Reporters without Borders.