The United States Senate recently questioned Google, Facebook and Twitter executives about their censoring of conservative speech while enjoying immunity from lawsuits given to neutral communication forums. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas asked Facebook’s (FB) Mark Zuckerberg if his company assisted the Vietnamese government to suppress free speech, human rights, and persecute its citizens.
American social media companies have provided China and Vietnam with technology to oppress descent and human rights for the privilege of operating in those nations. In other words these American corporate giants have sacrificed the lives of suffering champions of freedom for a strong stock price.
Digital advertising revenue in Vietnam amounted to around $550 million in 2018, 70% of which went to FB and Google. FB’s revenue from Chinese-based advertisers reached an estimated $5 billion in 2018, or about 10 percent of its total sales, according to Pivotal Research Group.
The Vietnamese people are some of the biggest users of FB in the world (7th highest). FB’s compliance with Vietnamese cybersecurity demands sets a dangerous precedent. Governments around the world see this as an invitation to enlist FB in the service of state censorship and privacy invasion.
A stone-faced Zuckerberg told Cruz that FB obeys the local laws where ever they operate. He was justifying his assisting the jailing and torture of freedom-seekers. Meanwhile, FB and other tech companies are not following U.S. laws.
Last week, while texting with a man in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, he sent a photo. Inquiring about the photo of the lady carrying a load of rice on her head, he responded that she was the wife of a Hre (minority people) pastor falsely accused and imprisoned for 16 years.
The authorities charged him with conspiring with US organizations to overthrow the Vietnamese government. Dinh Diem, 56, and his family live a hand-to-mouth existence in a tiny village. He has no power, no money and no weapons. The government knows there is no plot to overthrow. What they detest is freedom.
In a Communist country freedom and belief in God intimidate authorities. The friend said that there was no one to help the imprisoned church leader, certainly not billionaire ‘law-abiding’ Zuckerberg.
Pastor Dinh Diem was accused of posting and sharing articles and photographs with content opposing the Communist Party and the state on Facebook.
He was a member of the unregistered organization called Vietnam Inter-faith Council which works to enhance the right to freedom of religions and beliefs. He also belonged to FULRO (United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races), an organization of ethnic minorities calling for autonomy of the indigenous people in Vietnam’s Central Highlands.
"We strongly condemn the unfair and heavy sentence imposed on Pastor Diem because he has not done anything illegal," the Interfaith Council of Vietnam said.
Zuckerberg, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Google’s Sundar Pichai are a brilliant but spineless trio with poor memories. They can’t fathom how any censorship is occurring on their platforms in America. And, they can’t imagine accepting any responsibility for being complicit in the imprisonment, torture and murder of millions in Communist countries.
Multi-million dollar mansions in the Silicon Valley are a long way from the dirt floor one-room hovels in the Province of Quang Ngai, Vietnam. Communism or capitalism for these three, whatever. The privileged live above the fray in both systems.
(Get Lou’s podcast at “No Hostages Radio” and his articles at nohostagesradio.com)
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