Vietnam, a communist state is according to the CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists), currently the 6th most censored country in the nation. Bloggers in Vietnam risk jail time for anti-state content. The governments intent is to prevent citizens from reporting on news. A law was put in effect known as Decree 72, which was created to control the type of content shared on social media platforms. Decree 72 prohibits the use of social media for news, allowing only personal information to be shared. It's difficult to imagine, considering most of us obtain majority of our news while scrolling Facebook and Twitter. Isn't that the only reason we tolerate the mindless tweets? Well that and because, lets be honest, they can be wildly entertaining. But mostly because we know if we keep scrolling, well find something to nourish our curious minds. A perfect balance of entertainment and significance.
So how does the Vietnamese do Facebook? Well if they're lucky its not temporarily blocked. But does this mean their feeds are entirely filled with baby pictures and engagement announcements? They haven't given up just yet, 80% of smartphone users are on social media.
If it weren't for people like Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, citizens would have absolutely no insight to what's going on in their country. There are people like her who risk their safety to report on important social issues such as police brutality, and government corruption. In the CPJ article, she discusses how she has to go "undercover" and dress in plain clothes to cover a protest. It hasn't been easy for her. Quynh was detained after police raided her home while she was sleeping. They arrested her following a blog article she published about government land confiscation.
As technology develops, people in Vietnam are finding a way around the secure internet. We can only hope for their benefit, that the government ceases to keep up with the societies intel.