SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Vietnam wants more control of its internet.
Vietnam is taking a leaf out of China's book when it comes to regulating the internet.
Legislators in Vietnam have approved a law requiring global tech firms with operations in the country to keep user data there, Reuters reported Tuesday. In addition, social media companies like Facebook will have to remove offending content from their platforms within one day of receiving a request from authorities.
An estimated 55 million people in Vietnam use social media regularly and the country is home to some of Facebook's most active users, ranking at seventh worldwide, according to a 2018 global digital report. Vietnam already has existing laws penalising anyone guilty of "propaganda against the state."
[...] There's no timeline given yet as to when the new law will kick in. Still, people are concerned it will stifle free expression in Vietnam.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Mykl on Tuesday June 12 2018, @11:18PM
I don't live in Vietnam, but I would much rather that FB, Google etc be required to keep my data within my own country than on servers accessible to the US government. Over the past 10 years the US government has been shown to have abused access to this sort of thing more than any other government in the world.
True, the fact that this information will now be easily accessible to the Vietnamese government is a 'problem', but for most democracies, it's a better option for their citizens.