Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites have become hugely popular over the last few years in the heavily censored Communist country.
Internet activists and human rights groups are slamming a new decree in Vietnam that attempts to ban social media users and bloggers from posting news stories online.
Decree 72 issued by the government said blogs should only be used “to provide and exchange personal information.”
On one hand, some government officials have attempted to justify the law, saying it will help web users “find correct and clean information on the Internet.”
On other hand, the decree’s provisions are overly broad and will be used to prosecute critics of Vietnam’s communist government. It includes warnings of speech that is anti-Vietnam or that damages national unity.
Obviously, Vietnamese have increasingly taken to social media to get an unfiltered view of current events in a country where all private media are banned. Government will not easily to ban it by decree simply.
It cannot deny that migration away from traditional media has posed a challenge to a government that has long been able to monitor and regulate communications.
However, from my point of view, “It’s up to one’s own decision and judgment to decide what information is good or bad. We don’t need the government to be a coach telling us what to think and what to do for ourselves,” . So this decree issued by government is not practical in the long run. Citizens will do against it. The government should take consideration about all other factors into account to make balance between social networking sites and their worries.