"Let us breathe! Censorship and criminalization of online expression in Viet Nam", 1 Dec 2020

... On 21 April 2020, Facebook announced a major shift in its content moderation policy in Viet Nam. Under this policy, it has increasingly complied with the Vietnamese authorities’ repressive censorship of online expression deemed critical of the state. Facebook has disclosed that it agreed to “significantly increase” compliance with requests from the Vietnamese government to censor “anti-state” content in Viet Nam after concerted pressure from the Vietnamese authorities, including an enforced slowdown of Facebook services within the country. The Vietnamese government routinely deems peaceful and legitimate criticism of the government or information related to human rights abuses as “anti-state”, even though this type of expression is protected under international laws and standards. The decision by Facebook may have far-reaching global consequences, as other repressive governments around the world may now seek to apply a similar strategy by forcing Facebook and other technology companies to restrict online expression.

... Facebook’s decision has marked a sea change in the social media landscape in Viet Nam. Once the great hope for the expansion of freedom of expression in the country, social media platforms are fast becoming human rights–free zones, where any peaceful dissent or criticism of the Vietnamese government is liable to be censored and where users seeking to post such content face the risk of being suspended or otherwise barred from the platforms.

... Vietnamese YouTube users have also complained of increasing censorship of content which is deemed sensitive by the Vietnamese authorities. One human rights defender and YouTuber, An*, told Amnesty International: “YouTube is trying to prevent people from telling the truth, even when people are just reporting fact … This affects everyone in society, including victims of human rights violations.”

... Relevant excerpts from the responses sent by both companies have been included throughout this report and the full responses are included in Annex B.