Vietnam’s government has requested social media platforms to use artificial intelligence models in order to automate the detection and removal of politically sensitive online content, its latest attempt to control what information flows through the country’s digital networks.
The request, which was reported by Reuters (via state media) on Friday, requires platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube to coordinate with authorities to stamp out content deemed “toxic.” This designation, in Reuters’ paraphrase, includes “offensive, false, and anti-state content.” The order was made during the Ministry of Information’s mid-year review.
The request is just the latest sign of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV)’s desire to narrow the scope of social media platforms to be used to stir up dissent. Unable or unwilling to block these platforms outright, as is the case in China, the CPV authorities have nonetheless attempted to keep them on a tight leash.
Over the past few years, Vietnam has increased its pressure on social media networks to remove politically sensitive content – a flipside to the political clampdown that has seen dozens of independent journalists and human rights defenders arrested and sentenced to heavy prison terms.
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In 2018, it passed a cybersecurity law that forces Facebook and Google to take down posts deemed to be threats to national security within 24 hours of receiving a government request. To show it was serious, the government at one stage even threatened to t ..
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