Vietnam | 10,000 cyber warriors deployed to fight ‘wrongful views’

Vietnam is deploying a 10,000-member military cyber warfare unit to combat what the government sees as a growing threat of “wrongful views” proliferating on the internet, according to local media.

Force 47 has worked pro-actively against distorted information, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported, citing Nguyen Trong Nghia, deputy head of the general politics department under the Vietnam People’s Military. The disclosure of the unit comes as the Communist government pressures YouTube Inc. and Facebook Inc. to remove videos and accounts seen damaging the reputations of leaders or promoting anti-party views.

Facebook this year removed 159 accounts at Vietnam’s behest, while YouTube took down 4,500 videos, or 90 percent of what the government requested, according to VietnamNet news, which cited Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan last week. The National Assembly is debating a cybersecurity bill that would require technology companies to store certain data on servers in the country.

Vietnam’s youthful population – almost 60 percent are under 35 – has made the country a leader globally in terms of penetration of social networks, according to EMarketer Inc. More than 60 percent of Vietnamese are online, according to Nghia.

Representatives for Facebook and YouTube did not immediately respond to requests for comment. MDT/Bloomberg