One month after we reported that Vietnam was set to introduce regulations that would ban Internet users from sharing and discussing news reports online, these restrictions have now come into effect.
The law, known as Decree 72, stipulates that blogs and social media profiles that belong to individuals and businesses (as opposed to media outlets) should only contain personal information ‘owned’ by the person, and can’t quote, gather or summarize information from press organizations or government websites.
This effectively means that people aren’t allowed to ‘broadcast’ opinions around current affairs on the likes of Facebook and Twitter, with Vietnam’s one-party state striving to maintain a tight hold on official media outlets.
The new regulations were signed-off by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on July 15, and communicated to media early last month.
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