News coincides with authoritarian state's plan for sweeping
probe of TikTok
The Vietnamese government says individuals and groups will have to confirm their identities for social media accounts to fight human trafficking and other crimes. (Source photos by AP and Reuters)
LIEN HOANG, Nikkei staff writerMay 9, 2023 14:47 JST
HO CHI MINH
CITY -- Vietnam plans to require Facebook, YouTube and TikTok users to verify
their accounts, part of the one-party state's widening internet clampdown that
includes a "comprehensive" probe into political content on TikTok.
Individuals
and groups will have to confirm their identities for social media accounts, a
move aimed at fighting human trafficking and other crimes, according to a post
published on the information ministry's Authority of Broadcasting and
Electronic Information website late on Monday. The authority shared a separate
post the same day saying the ministry has an "inspection plan" for
TikTok that will involve multiple ministries and span the last two weeks of
May.
The
"addictive" video platform allows "content opposing the party
and state," disinformation, counterfeits and scams, the broadcast agency
has said previously. Compared with YouTube and Facebook, TikTok generally hosts
less political fare and has operated in the Southeast Asian country for a shorter
time. But the agency said an "increase in harmful content" prompted
the "comprehensive" investigation.
The
effort to authenticate social media accounts follows a campaign to link people
to their phone numbers, the agency said. It warned that authorities will
contact banks to identify mobile subscribers still outside the database, or
block their numbers -- echoing the Philippines' new SIM registration system
that caused fears of state surveillance of
critics, human rights workers and journalists.
It
is unclear how Vietnam will verify identities on Facebook, YouTube and TikTok,
and none of the companies immediately replied to Nikkei Asia's requests for
comment.
The
communist country of 100 million has become a big market for technology giants
despite the government tightening the screws on the industry -- companies must
block sensitive content and store data domestically, putting it within reach of
officials.
The
U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, a lobby for Netflix, Google, Meta, and others,
told Nikkei that both sides,
government and Big Tech, have made "accommodations" for each other,
though companies will not hand over user data.
TikTok
is a newer target of scrutiny than its U.S. rivals. The Vietnamese
investigation is the latest challenge for the popular Chinese app, which has faced
a ban in India, a U.S. congressional hearing about privacy and ties to Beijing,
and criticism for spying on reporters.
Hanoi
is collecting data about phones and social media because they have become tools
for crime, including fraud and trafficking, the broadcast agency post said.
While Vietnam was Asia's fastest-growing economy in 2022, some locals seeking
work abroad have been enmeshed in trafficking networks, from those found dead
in a truck in Essex, England, in 2019, to slave laborers in criminal rings running
cyber schemes and casinos.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Vietnam-wants-Facebook-YouTube-TikTok-users-to-verify-identities
Vietnamese communists always want to suppress dissidents, arrest anti-corruption, shut up voices against government weakness, shaking hands with China...
...fraud and trafficking ? NO !
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