SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Vietnam's Force 47 is run by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) to hack anti-government websites and spread pro-government messages online, and is believed to be at least 10,000-strong.
Anh Chi, the pen name of 46-year-old Nguyen Chi Tuyen, knows the ministry's tactics well. He has created videos criticising Force 47, and has expressed concern about the impact of a new cyber-law that came into effect at the beginning of the month.
The deadly January 9 incident in Dong Tam is a case in point.
According to the authorities, three police officers and 84-year-old village leader Le Dinh Kinh were killed after local residents clashed with police in the early hours of that day.
The dispute, over agricultural land next to a military airport, shocked the country. But afterwards, Vietnam's cyber-army, also known as Force 47, was deployed to counter the content on social media platforms deemed critical of the way the authorities handled the situation.
"Facebook is the main source of independent news now in Vietnam," said Trinh Huu Long, a co-founder of Legal Initiatives for Vietnam.
"The government has been working with Facebook to try to control content posted by dissidents and independent voices," he added.
Vietnam is said to be following China's lead in policing its citizens speech online. Is this going to become the global norm?
(Score: 1, Disagree) by khallow on Saturday January 18 2020, @03:55AM (5 children)
This binary thinker thinks you just gave a great example of whataboutism. The US military does some minor things to get better propaganda from US media (the first two items that weren't "you can bet" uninformed speculation) is nothing like Vietnam's massive propaganda/censorship/harassment operation.
And is more effective particularly when coupled with Vietnam's ability to punish dissidents and their families with fines, jail time, etc.
It's completely dishonest to make these slanted comparisons. Sure, there might come a future when the US does things that make this Vietnamese stuff look tame in comparison. But it hasn't happened yet. In the meantime, we're normalizing this sort of bad behavior (and perhaps making that above future more likely!) by claiming that some minor thing is equivalent to what Vietnam is doing now.
After all, what is the point of criticizing the US when someone else does wrong? (particularly a much worse wrong!) How does that help fix the wrongdoing? Are we only supposed to fix the wrongs of the world once the US is perfect?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:08AM (1 child)
Hmmmm.... you say,
>After all, what is the point of criticizing the US when someone else does wrong? (particularly a much worse wrong!) How does that help fix the wrongdoing? Are we only supposed to fix the wrongs of the world once the US is perfect?
GP you are responding to, said,
>>For the binary thinkers reading this, no what Vietnam is doing is not OK because the US does the equivalent. Both are shitty, and a sign that the rulers and their policies lack the legitimacy they claim.
Do you notice your reading comprehension fail?
(Score: 1, Disagree) by khallow on Saturday January 18 2020, @05:56AM
Nope and you didn't either. Let us keep in mind that this story wouldn't exist in the first place, if what was said or written was always true.
Here, I see this as a typical attempt to defuse counterargument by anticipating it. And aside from paying lip service via the above claim what really do they do to support that claim? A feeble argument equating serious wrongdoing and speech suppression on Vietnam's part with some lightweight publicity on the US military's side. Perhaps, they believe what they wrote above, but the previous words don't match that.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Coward, Anonymous on Saturday January 18 2020, @08:56AM (2 children)
US kids are made to chant government propaganda every morning at school. Those who refuse are often punished. That is not a "minor thing".
In politics, people often care most about what they can change the least. It's reasonable to draw their attention to things they can affect.
(Score: 0, Troll) by khallow on Saturday January 18 2020, @01:04PM
Right. Just keep digging that hole deeper.
Hypothetically, like the world's ending from global warming, but you can use cloth diapers instead of disposable?
(Score: 3, Funny) by hendrikboom on Saturday January 18 2020, @09:22PM
And also foreign kids who happen to be visiting the US for a year and are enrolled in US schools.
Maybe not officially, but what 10-year-old wants to stand out by refusing to say the oath allegiance to the US because she's unamerican?