HANOI: Vietnamese human rights activists and independent media groups have written to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Inc's chief executive, questioning whether the social media platform was helping suppress dissent in the communist country. The letter, released on Tuesday by US-based human rights group Viet Tan and signed by nearly 50 other groups, said Facebook's system of automatically pulling content if enough people complained could “silence human rights activists and citizen journalists in Vietnam”. Vietnam last year unveiled a 10,000-strong military cyber warfare unit, named Force 47, to counter “wrong” views on the Internet. “Our community standards, which outline what is and isn't allowed on Facebook, seek to encourage expression and create a safe community on the platform,” a Facebook spokeswoman said in response. “We appreciate Facebook's efforts in addressing safety and misinformation concerns online in Vietnam and around the world,” the activists said.

Source: The Star April 10, 2018 05:13 UTC