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ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship 13. 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 14. Reporters Without Borders , Laos, (n.d.), available at: https://rsf.org/en/country/laos 15. Radio Free Asia, ຜູ້ໃຊ້ສື່ສັງຄົມອ໋ອນລາຍນ໌ ວິຈານ ຣັຖບານ ຖືກຕິດຕາມໃກ້ຊິດ, (5 September 2023), available at : https://www.rfa.org/lao/daily/politics/ lao-youtube-channels-criticizes-the-lao-govt-arewarned-some-told-to-shut-down-09052023222841. html https://www.rfa.org/lao/daily/politics/lao-youtube-channels-criticizes-the-lao-govt-are-warnedsome-told-to-shut-down-09052023222841.html 16. CIVICUS Monitor, Laos increases controls on social media news sites while anti-land grab protesters jailed, (5 September 2019), available at: https:// monitor.civicus.org/updates/2019/09/05/laos-increases-controls-social-media-news-sites-while-antiland-grab-protesters-jailed/ 17. US Embassy, Laos 2021 Human Rights Report, (n.d.), available at: https://la.usembassy.gov/ wp-content/uploads/sites/85/LAOS-2021-HUMANRIGHTS-REPORT.pdf 18. Radio Free Asia, Laos Warns Social Media-Based News Outlets to Register to Prevent ‘Fake News’, (8 October 2020), available at: https://www.rfa.org/ english/news/laos/facebook-10082020094253.html 19. ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship, Manushya Foundation, 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-must-stop; Manushya Foundation, #StopDigitalDictatorship in Laos!, (28 May 2021), available at: https://www. manushyafoundation.org/post/stopdigitaldictatorship-in-laos 20. US Embassy, Laos 2021 Human Rights Report, (n.d.), available at: https://la.usembassy.gov/ wp-content/uploads/sites/85/LAOS-2021-HUMANRIGHTS-REPORT.pdf 142 21. 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; ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship, Manushya Foundation, 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-must-stop; Manushya Foundation, #StopDigitalDictatorship in Laos!, (28 May 2021), available at: https://www.manushyafoundation.org/post/stopdigitaldictatorship-in-laos 22. Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Chair’s Statement of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, (18 October 2023), available at: http:// gy.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/xwfw/202310/ t20231020_11165123.htm 23. Asia News Network, Laos, China open news analysis training centre, (24 November 2023), available at: https://asianews.network/laos-china-open-newsanalysis-training-centre/ 24. Laotian Times, Laos to enforce nationwide SIM card registration, (24 June 202), available at: https://laotiantimes.com/2020/06/24/laos-to-enforce-nationwide-sim-card-registration/ 25. Radio Free Asia, Laos requires cell phone registration by mid-December, (28 November 2023), available at: https://www.rfa.org/english/news/ laos/registration-11282023143213.html; Laotian Times, Lao Ministry Urges Phone Users to Register their Numbers by December 16 or Face Fines, (8 September 2023), available at: https://laotiantimes. com/2023/09/08/lao-ministry-urges-phone-usersto-register-their-numbers-by-december-16-or-facefines/ 26. VDB Loi, Amended Telecommunication Law - Lao PDR, (24 May 2022), available at: https://www.vdbloi.com/laos_publication/amended-telecommunication-law-lao-pdr/ Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia

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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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