Vietnamese subscribers of social media may soon be required by law to verify their identity before logging in.

The following report is by Biometric Update:

According to Reuters, the rule will apply to both national and foreign-run platforms, including popular sites like Facebook and YouTube and cover individuals and organizations.

Some providers require digital ID verification in Vietnam, but it could be all of them by the end of the year as part of the proposed Telecommunications Law Amendment. Its purported targets are scammers, disinformation campaigns and criminal activity that can be conducted anonymously across borders via social media. Law enforcement will have the ability to track and monitor users and block unverified accounts.

In an authoritarian country that ranks poorly on freedom of expression, critics worry that the law gives the government too much control over people’s online activity. The BBC quotes Human Rights Watch as saying that the mandatory identity verification system gives Vietnam’s government undue leverage over transnational corporations, and “is likely lead to violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and privacy.”

Human rights groups have already raised concerns about the autocratic nation’s recent crackdown on fake news, Decree 53, saying it is a smokescreen for tighter government control. Vietnam’s leaders have implemented biometrics in passports and at airports. They also want foreign firms to store their Vietnamese customers’ data locally, and to have a physical presence in the country by October.

As technology like AI and deepfakes present new risks, and the machinations of fraud and disinformation become more complex, regulators across the globe are working to find ways to stay ahead of the changes, through policy and regulation. But the wave of new laws has in turn driven pushback from those who fear the measures will be too easily abused, especially in nations that already employ invasive surveillance practices.

Social media restrictions are being introduced in several other countries, but mostly to keep underage users off of the platforms.


AUTHOR COMMENTARY

Social media censorship around the world is only going to get worse, cultivating to an eventual enforcement global standard and internet behavioral score.

SEE: The DQ Institute: The Social Credit Score To Become A Global Citizen To Use The Internet


[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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