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ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship Endnotes 1. Freedom House, Freedom In The World 2020: Laos, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/laos/freedom-world/2020.; Reporters sans frontières, World Press Freedom Index, (2020), available at: https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2020.; Freedom House, Freedom In The World 2021: Laos, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/ laos/freedom-world/2021.; Reporters sans frontières, World Press Freedom Index, (2021), available at: https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2021.; Freedom House, Freedom In The World 2022: Laos, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/ laos/freedom-world/2022.; Reporters sans frontières, World Press Freedom Index, (2022), available at: https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2022; Freedom House, Freedom In The World 2023: Laos, (n.d.), available at: https://freedomhouse.org/country/ laos/freedom-world/2023.; Reporters sans frontières, World Press Freedom Index, (2023), available at: https://rsf.org/en/index?year=2023. 2. Amended Constitution of the Lao PDR (2015), available at: https://www.parliament.go.th/ewtadmin/ ewt/ac/ewt_dl_link.php?nid=119&filename=parsystem2 3. Penal Code of Lao PDR (2017), available at: http://laoofficialgazette.gov.la/kcfinder/upload/ files/1Oct2020_Lao%20Penal%20Code_English%20 version.pdf 4. Manushya Foundation, News Release: Lao PDR Must Live Up To International Human Rights Obligations, Civil Society Call Ahead Of Un Review (Universal Periodic Review), (15 August 2019), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/5-aug-newsrelease-sub-upr-c-fa-mf 5. Law on Prevention and Combating Cyber Crimes No. 61/NA, (15 July 2015), available at: https://laocert. gov.la/ftp_upload/Cyber_Crime_Law_EnVersion.pdf 6. Decree of the President on the Promulgation of the Criminal Code No. 118/PO, (26 June 2017), available at: http://laoofficialgazette.gov.la/kcfinder/upload/ files/1Oct2020_Lao%20Penal%20Code_English%20 version.pdf 7. Radio Free Asia, Laotians ‘Confused’ by President Urging Police Whistleblowing, Threatening Social Media Use, (12 April 2021), available at: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/president-04122021153932.html Lao PDR 8. Decree No. 327 on Internet-Based Information Control/Management (2014), available at: http://bitly. ws/ugCa; Manushya Foundation, Joint Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) for Lao PDR Third Upr Cycle, 35th Session of The UPR Working Group, (18 July 2019), available at: https://www. manushyafoundation.org/joint-lao-upr-submission 9. Manushya Foundation, Joint Statement, Laos: The Lao Government Must Stop Online Surveillance and Mandatory Registration of Social Media Platforms, (28 May 2021), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/joint-statement-laos-govt-muststop 10. ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship, Manushya Foundation, Joint Solidarity Statement: Defending Digital Freedom: Asean Coalition Confronts Laos’ Social Media Clampdown, (23 August 2023), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/laossocialmediaclampdown 11. Manushya Foundation, Joint Solidarity Statement Defending Digital Freedom : ASEAN Coalition Confronts Laos’ Social Media Clampdown, (23 August 2023), available at : https://www.manushyafoundation.org/laossocialmediaclampdown 12. Timeline, ทางการลาวเคลื่อนไหวเตรียมจัดการช่อง สื่อออนไลน์, (5 August 2023) available at: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPRLYyFVCrQ&t=69s; Facebook post from “Pasaxon”, ປະຊາຊົ ນ, (2 August 2023), available at: https://www.facebook. com/photo.php?fbid=807229911090467&set= pb.100054103977098.-2207520000.&type=3; Radio Free Asia, ທາງການລາວືສບໍຕປາບປາມຜູ້ ໃຊ້ ືສສັ ງຄົ ມ ອອນລາຍ໌ນໍຕາິນຣັ ຖບານ, The Lao government continues to crackdown an online social media users, blaming the government, (9 August 2023), available at: https://www.rfa.org/lao/daily/politics/lao-authority- to-continue-crackdown-on-people-using-social-media-criticized-govt-08102023093343.html; Manushya Foundation, ທາງການລາວເລັ່ງຈັດການ ສື່ສັງຄົມອອນລາຍ ທີ່ເຜີຍແຜ່ຂ່າວໂຈມຕີລັດຖະບານ. Facebook post, (11 August 2023), available at: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=62178306 3377634&set=a.578684191020855; ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship, Manushya Foundation, Joint Solidarity Statement: Defending Digital Freedom: Asean Coalition Confronts Laos’ Social Media Clampdown, (23 August 2023), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/laossocialmediaclampdown 141

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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English

Topic

Digital Rights
Digital Surveillance
Information Operation
Internet Restrictions

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MANUSHYA

Date Published: Mar 8, 2024

Abstract: Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024 Whether we like it or not, we are living through a pivotal moment for the future of human rights. This includes the issue of our digital rights, and the question of our online freedoms. In places like Southeast Asia, where the majority of its peoples are experiencing immense threats to their online and offline freedoms, at the hands of opportunistic governments and corporations, this is especially prevalent. The digital space has become an integral part of human life, and is still growing in its influence over our world. Accordingly, if our freedoms in the digital space are endangered, our freedoms overall are endangered as well.

It is understandable to feel powerless while possessing this knowledge. But it is not enough to just know about the forces acting against our human rights, and understand that they are dangerous. If we truly want to create a safer, more equitable, more liberated world - which we all know, deep down, is possible - we must understand these forces, and act accordingly. We must equip ourselves with knowledge about what governments, corporations, and other powers that be are doing, alongside demanding our rights to freedom. The powers that be have weaponised the online and digital space, as well as the law, against the people that these things are supposed to serve and protect. It is our right to protect ourselves with research, knowledge, advocacy, and the power of the people. When we understand the powers we are up against, fighting back will become less daunting.

This is what our report, titled Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia, is for. Join us in powering ourselves with knowledge, in order to compel ourselves to action!

As always, our work is rooted in decolonial, feminist, intersectional values, with historically marginalised people at the centre. Thus, this work was a collaboration between a coalition of groups oriented in these values: ALTSEAN-Burma, Cambodian Center for Human Rights, ELSAM, Free Expression Myanmar, Foundation for Media Alternatives, ILGA Asia, Manushya Foundation, The Rohingya Maìyafuìnor Collaborative Network, SAFEnet, Viet Tan, and Women’s Peace Network. What is the ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship? The ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship was established in 2020, by human rights and digital rights activists from Southeast Asia, on a mission to decolonize digital rights and restore our online democracies.

Together, we stand in solidarity with one another, with people from the Global Majority, resisting and pushing back against authoritarian governments and complicit tech companies.

We tell our realities from the ground, and we develop solutions together.

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Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia March 2024

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