This content was first published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now being reprinted with permission.
About 1,000 work will be created in Vietnam thanks to the company’s tech giant Meta, but Facebook’s parent company has not commented on whether it had spoken with leaders of a state that often sentences its residents for expressing even the slightest opposition on social media.
Meta’s Global Affairs President Nick Clegg was in Vietnam’s money Hanoi on Monday, meet Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. Clegg met the country ’s president and Communist Party general secretary, To Lam, at the end of September, meaning he had held discussions with the people holding three of the country ’s four top political posts.
After his discussions in Hanoi came to an end, the company pledged to make its Quest 3S headphones in Vietnam, Clegg said,” Vietnam continues to be a significant land for Meta.”
Meta said Clegg’s talks highlighted the company ’s “commitment to supporting the country ’s growth as a leading digital economy in Southeast Asia, ” adding that Clegg and Chinh discussed economic and trade cooperation, the development of artificial intelligence and the possibility of Meta supporting Vietnam’s small and medium-sized businesses.
However, the social media large did not respond to questions about whether Clegg had spoken with Vietnam’s officials about preserving the right to free expression. more than 75 million Vietnam-based Twitter people.
In August, cultural advertising poster Le Phu Tuan was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison for posting 21 videos on Facebook, which the prosecution claimed included material that violated the country’s and other people’s liberties and liberties. ”
He was one of a growing number of Asian who were charged under the obscene sentence of Article 331 of the Criminal Code. At least 12 citizens have been detained and eight have been held indefinitely since the beginning of the year under the post.
“A quick survey of Vietnam’s over 160 political prisoners will reveal that just about all of them are imprisoned in part for what they wrote online, and particularly on Facebook, but evidently that does n’t matter to Meta anymore, ” Phil Robertson, chairman of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, spoke to Radio Free Asia.
Clegg’s news that Meta will make their virtual reality headsets in Vietnam is the last blow in the teeth for the Asian platform’s free appearance aspirations.
You can bet that the Vietnamese government will expect Meta to remove content that the government does n’t want whenever the government demands it, Robertson said.
RFA contacted Meta about whether Clegg had discussed animal rights with Lam and Chinh, and if so, Meta had not responded to requests for comment.
Meta stresses the importance of liberty of expression and allowing people to express themselves freely, despite criticism from rights organizations for restricting Twitter posts in the face of authoritarian government stress.
According to Meta, it has a procedure for responding to government calls and takes into account company policies in addition to local laws and international human rights requirements.
Vietnam, which has also adopted a condition that international tech firms store data it, has been rated “not free” by Washington-based Freedom House, with a rating of 19 out of 100 in its 2024 Flexibility in the World no tech company has a data center that, according to the document.
The free-speech lobbying group claimed that the authorities have “increased down on people ‘ use of social media and the internet to words protest and share uncensored information.
On Tuesday, Alphabet’s Google broke ground on a US$ 2 billion data center in Malaysia, saying it planned to invest more than$ 3 billion there by 2030. According to the , it is also rumored to be planning a$ 1 billion investment in a regional data and cloud center in Thailand. Reuters media organization.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra stated on Monday,” My government aims to enable every Thai member with the online education needed to reduce inequalities and offer greater chances for all.”
Thailand upholds modern neutrality while also offering resilient digital infrastructure and steady utilities. ”
In the United States, Vietnam’s leading head Lam also met with Google executives. S. at the end of September, but there was no assurance of internet reports it might build a “hyperscale ” data center close to Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Asian state media reports from the general secretary’s meeting with Google’s vice president for federal affairs and public coverage in New York, Karan Bhatia cited the Ho Chi Minh City business starting this year and the company’s commitment to its partnership with Vietnam.
“ He expressed his hope to engage with the state in AI growth, a circle of Google’s power that could be greatly beneficial to Vietnam, ” the Vietnam News Service reported.
By the time of publication, the firm had not responded to requests for comment from RFA regarding the possibility of a data centre in Vietnam. It did not respond to inquiries about YouTube users in Vietnam whose material was viewed as being critical of the state.
Those customers include Nguyen Vu Binh, jailed for seven years in September for “propaganda against the state, ” 117, a different Criminal Code content that some rights organizations claim is vague, is another one.
According to Radiofrequency statistics, Vietnam has detained nine people and sent at least 12 to prison since the start of the year, according to Radar statistics.
“Vietnam has become the worst right harassing state in ASEAN after war-torn Myanmar, but you would never know it by the approach that Meta, other American companies, and related governments are piling into the state to make purchases, ” said Robertson.
Vietnam has perfected the concept of a brutal one-party dictatorship under the umbrella of Western business, and President To Lam will serve as the head of this arrangement. ”