Facebook and Google are fast becoming „human rights-free zones“ in Vietnam, Amnesty International warned, accusing the tech titans of helping censor peaceful dissent and political expression in the country.
Facebook and Google are fast becoming „human rights-free zones“ in Vietnam, Amnesty International warned Tuesday, accusing the tech titans of helping censor peaceful dissent and political expression in the country. Communist Vietnam has long jailed its critics but has come under fire in recent years for targeting users on Facebook, a popular forum for activists in the country where all independent media is banned. The social network admitted earlier this year that it was blocking content deemed illegal by authorities, while its latest transparency report revealed a nearly 1,000 percent increase in the content it censors on government orders compared to the previous six months. Amnesty said in a Tuesday report that it had interviewed 11 activists whose content had been restricted from view in Vietnam by Facebook this year. The rights group also said three others had similar content censored by Google-owned YouTube. One of them, Nguyen Van Trang, who fled an arrest warrant in Vietnam for his involvement in a pro-democracy group, said Facebook had since May restricted every piece of content he posted about Communist Party boss Nguyen Phu Trong and senior party member Tran Quoc Vuong.
