Cyber curbs

Critics: It’s a threat to freedom of expression

Vietnam MPs pass a new law that compels Google and Facebook to take down critical posts within 24 hours, as space for debate is crushed.

HANOI: Vietnamese legislators have passed a contentious cybersecurity law, which critics say will hurt the economy and further restrict freedom of expression.

The law requires service providers such as Google and Facebook to store user data in Vietnam, open offices in the country and remove offending contents within 24 hours at the request of the Ministry of Information and Communications and the specialised cybersecurity task-force under the Ministry of Public Security.

Addressing the Communist Party-dominated assembly before the vote on Tuesday, chairman of the Committee on Defence and Security Vo Trong Viet said the law was “extremely necessary to defend the interests of the people and national security”.

He said the law did not contradict Vietnam’s commitments to multinational trade treaties such as the World Trade Organization and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, although there were exceptions on national security grounds.

He said requiring foreign companies to set up data centres in Vietnam may increase their operational costs, but it was necessary for the country’s cybersecurity and would facilitate the companies’ operations and user activities.

“When there are acts of violation of cybersecurity, the coordination in handling the violations will be more effective and more viable,” he said, without elaborating.

The United States and Canada have called on Vietnam to delay the passage of legislation.

The US Embassy said last week that it found the draft containing “serious obstacles to Vietnam’s cybersecurity and digital innovation future, and may not be consistent with Vietnam’s international trade commitments”.

Amnesty International said the decision was dangerous for freedom of expression.

“In the country’s deeply repressive climate, the online space was a relative refuge where people could share ideas and opinions with less fear of censure by the authorities,” Clare Algar, Amnesty International’s director of global operations, said yesterday.

She said the law granted the government sweeping powers to monitor online activity, meaning “there is now no safe place left in Vietnam for people to speak freely”.

The Vietnam Digital Communications Association said the law may reduce the gross domestic product by 1.7% and wipe out foreign investment by 3.1%.