ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship Country LAO PDR (LAOS) Event Contextualisation Telecom Law (2021) Telecom Law 2021 requires ISPs to cooperate with the government to block access to certain online content deemed inappropriate or against the law. In addition, Telecom Law 2021 provides for severe penalties, including substantial fines, for ISPs that fail to comply with the requirements of the law. SIM Card Registration Act (2020) This law requires all SIM card users to register their personal details, including name, address and identity card number, with telecoms operators. Elections The Laotian legislative elections of 2021 took place on February 21, 2021, to elect members of the 9th legislature of the National Assembly of Laos. Laos is a single-party state, where the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is the only legal party and controls the entire electoral process. Elections in Laos are not considered free and fair, as all candidates are approved by the LPRP, and no significant opposition is allowed. Fig. 3.3B: Contextualisation for Lao PDR (Laos)’s timeline, 2020-2023 Heavy reliance on Social Media and Online Citizen Journalists as Sources of Truth The ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship observed that Lao people have increasingly relied on the Internet and social media - rather than state-owned media - to share information and seek uncensored news in recent years. This shift happened after the 2018 Xe-Pian XeNamnoy dam collapse - a widespread environmental and human-made disaster which impacted thousands and potential solutions to prevailing issues, with Facebook and YouTube, as their main channels for tracking local news and government initiatives.48 In October 2020, inspired by the #MilkTeaAlliance and pro-democracy movements in Asia, Lao online users launched a rare online campaign with the hashtag #ຖ້າ ການເມືອງລາວດີ (#IfLaoPoliticsAreGood) on Twitter. The hashtag has been used hundreds of thousands of times by netizens to criticise bad governance.49 of people. While state-controlled media were vague Furthermore, data in 2023 revealed that a substantial and inconsistent in their reporting of the damage, segment of the Lao population embraces the digital social media users reported on and checked most era, actively participating in social media engagement: of first-hand information. In a bid to discredit critical 85% possessing smartphones and 65% having online information, the Prime Minister warned all Lao Internet accessibility. Popular platforms such as citizens not to believe the alleged misinformation of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube played the foreign media and social media and instead to a pivotal role, with 44.2% of users relying on these only trust information shared by state-owned media avenues for information dissemination and personal instead. Warning from the Lao government did not expression.50 Despite social media serving as a stop the Lao people. Radio Free Asia reported that platform for expressing opinions and advocating for residents in Vientiane revealed a growing reliance fundamental human and digital rights, the prevailing on social media as a primary source for staying digital repression in Laos obstructs citizens from informed about societal news, government policies, fully enjoying their rights. 128 Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia