A group of 17 U.S. lawmakers advised the CEOs of Google and Facebook to push back on Vietnam’s new cybersecurity law approved by Vietnamese legislators last month. The new regulation comes into effect on January 1, 2019, and requires global technology giants like Facebook, Google to store user data on local servers and open offices in Vietnam.
“If the Vietnamese government is coercing your companies to aid and abet censorship, this is an issue of concern that needs to be raised diplomatically and at the highest levels,” the Congressional Vietnam Caucus said in a letter, according to Reuters. The letter issued on July 12 also stated, “We urge you to live up to your stated missions to promote openness and connectivity,”
The Law focuses on social media usage, data localization, cybersecurity audit of information systems of agencies and organizations, handling illegal content, and protection of children.
The social media users will have to abide by the Constitution and legal regulations while voicing their opinion and discontent on the platform. According to the law’s Article 15, “information on cyberspace classified as illegal includes anti-state information; information that excites violent disturbance, undermines security and deranges public order; information that causes defamation and slander; information that violates economic management order; and false information that causes public panics, damages socio-economic activities, hampers state agencies’ activities and on-duty persons, and violates the rights and benefits of other organizations and individuals.”
