HANOI — Vietnam has jailed three more people for anti-government posts on social media platform Facebook deemed to defame the ruling Communist Party and the government, state media and police said on Thursday, bringing the total imprisoned this month to five. A spokesman for rights group Amnesty International said previously that at least 16 people had been arrested, detained or convicted this year for anti-government posts on Facebook. Widely used in Vietnam, Facebook serves as the main platform both for e-commerce and the expression of political dissent. In May Facebook said it had increased more than sixfold the content in Vietnam to which it restricted access in the last half of 2018. “This crackdown has further exacerbated the prevailing climate of fear in Vietnam,” the rights groups said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

Source: National Post November 28, 2019 12:11 UTC