ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship Savang Phaleuth, also member of the ‘Free Laos’ democracy group, was arbitrarily arrested by the Online Content Manipulation & Restrictions Lao police on April 20, 2023, in Song Khone District, The official number of government requests for Savannakhet Province while he returned to Lao content restriction or removal remains unknown. Laos PDR (Laos) from Thailand to visit his Lao family. is not included in Google’s and Twitter’s transparency He was released in July 2023, and returned to live reports, while Meta did not report any requests from in Thailand. More tragic is the killing of Bounsuan 2020 through 2023,87 and neither did TikTok ever since Kitiyano, a recognized-UNHCR refugee and also a 2019 when the platform started sharing transparency member of the ‘Free Laos’ group, on May 17, 2023. reports.88 However, according to Vientiane Times, over He was found dead in a forest along the Thai-Laos 12 million items of misinformation were removed border, in Ubon Ratchathani, a week before his from Facebook between March and October 2020.89 resettlement to Australia. As of December 2023, the The exact numbers in this respect for the past three responsible party for his death remains unknown. years remain unknown. 85 86 PANDEMIC POLITICS: COVID-19 IMPACT ON ONLINE ACTIVITIES The COVID-19 pandemic facilitated state control over the online environment. On May 20, 2021, the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism requested provincial authorities to keep records of official social media platforms including websites, online news pages, and Facebook pages, and to forward them to the Mass Media Department, under the guise of combating “false information” during the pandemic. The notice also stated that unregistered platforms would not be allowed to publish information or news under the Media Law. Officials highlighted punishment for the circulation of fake news and misinformation causing loss or damage through social media under the 2015 Law on Prevention and Combating Cyber Crime.90 The following day, on May 21, the Ministry of Public Security issued a notice 138 indicating that a special task force had been set up to surveil, trace, and respond to “illegal online media” and “fake news” posted by both domestic and international actors. A first-time offence carries a warning, while a second offence is punished with a fine and a third time offender will be jailed. 91 This excessive control can be seen through the number of arrests. Multiple cases of “fake news” or “spreading rumours aimed at causing public panic” related to COVID-19 have been documented. For instance, in February 2020, a 25-year-old woman was arrested and reportedly charged with “spreading rumours” for posting allegations that persons infected with coronavirus were shopping at a shopping mall in Vientiane. In another case, a Facebook user was arrested for live-streaming an event that violated a stay-at-home order.92 The District Governor explained that the person “was handed over to the district police who will summon and charge him according to the law.”93 Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia