Facebook, Google becoming 'human rights-free zones' in Vietnam: Amnesty

Vietnam is as repressive a dictatorship as China.

Interesting post @Septim Dynasty.

It is obvious that all these tech giants will apply one set of rules about content moderation in one country and forget about the same in another country.

I can share the example of my country which has a history of religious disharmony and strife and there are strict laws against people or groups attempting to sow divisions among communities. However, with the anonymity of social media, FB and Twitter have become a platform for right wing groups to spread their bigotry and political agenda, something which they would not have been able to do easily without social media. Moreover, my country has a right wing bigot in power now and most of these online groups have become an extended arm of the government so FB and Twitter actually do not censor such online pages since they want to be in the good books of the ruling elites.

That's what happens when there's no media independent from the government

Government should stay out of media

Government should stay out of media

That's not how police states work. One of the most radical reforms in human history was the right to a free press and freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution. Much of the world still has not accepted that citizens have those rights and thus in much of the world, the press is controlled by the government and speech is routinely censored, and critical speech punished. The little crybabies running China and Vietnam would never last a day as a politician in the West where abuse is heaped on them daily, heck hourly, but various media and their political opponents who have the guaranteed right to criticize them freely. The little baby Xi Jinping would melt like butter on a summer day in Hong Kong under the kind of scrutiny western politicians live with, even thrive under.

Profit over people, how unusual...

Facebook and Google always favor the side of tyrants and suppress speech their employees and owners do not agree with. Anything out of step with approved narratives will be banned. This happens in many countries.