A Study of Vietnam's Control Over Online Anti-State Content (Trends in Southeast Asia) - Softcover

Dien Nguyen An Luong (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 981501143X ISBN 13: 9789815011432

Publisher: ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, 2022

Synopsis

Over the past two decades, the fixation on anti-state content has shaped the way Vietnamese authorities deployed various censorship strategies to achieve the dual goals of creating a superficial openness while maintaining a tight grip on online discourses. These considerations dictated how several regulations on Internet controls were formulated and enforced.

Vietnamese censors also selectively borrowed from China's online censorship playbook, a key tenet of which is the fear-based approach. The modus operandi for the authorities is to first harp on what they perceive as online foreign and domestic threats to Vietnam's social stability. Then those threats are exhaustively used to enforce tougher measures that are akin to those implemented in China.

But unlike China, Vietnam has not afforded to ban Western social media platforms altogether. Realizing that they would be better off exploiting social media for their own gains, Vietnamese authorities have sought to co-opt and utilize it to curb anti-state content on the Internet. The lure of the Vietnamese market has also emboldened Facebook and Google's YouTube to consider it fit to acquiesce to state censorship demands.

About this title

About the Author

Dien Nguyen An Luong is Visiting Fellow with the Media, Technology and Society Programme of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.

Edition details

• Publisher: ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 981501143X
• ISBN 13: 9789815011432
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 27