Vietnam cybersecurity law

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnamese legislators on Tuesday passed a contentious cybersecurity law, which critics say will hurt the economy and further restrict freedom of expression.

Thelaw requires service providers such as Google and Facebook to store user data in Vietnam, open offices in thecountry, and remove offending content within 24 hours at the request of the Ministry of Information and Communications and the specialized cy ber security task-force under the Ministry of Public Security.

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

“The cybersecurity law is a big backward step for Vietnam,” Le Dang Doanh, a Hanoi-based economist and former government adviser said of the bill, which was passed by 87 percent of lawmakers on Tuesday.