18 January 2013 – 19H05
AFP – After harassment and prison failed to silence Vietnam’s dissident bloggers, the communist government started building an army of propaganda agents to infiltrate chatrooms and sing the regime’s praises.
“Their favourite arguments are: ‘shut up and trust the government’. They don’t engage in rational debate. They go in for personal attacks and spreading poisonous fallacies,” said one Hanoi-based pro-democracy blogger.
“If I write anything that attracts attention, they will jump in to ‘guide the public’,” she told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Hanoi’s head of propaganda Ho Quang Loi said last week that the city has a 900-strong team of “internet polemicists” or “public opinion shapers” who are tasked with spreading the party line.
His comments were the first official admission that the communist regime employs a Chinese-style system of Internet moderators to control news and manipulate opinion.
Read more: http://www.france24.com/en/20130118-vietnams-propaganda-agents-battle-bloggers-online
