As the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) convenes its 14th National Congress, the country’s most critical transfer of power, the regime has launched a comprehensive campaign to “sanitize” the information environment.
But unlike the crude censorship of the past, Hanoi has found a sophisticated partner in its transnational repression: Meta (Facebook).
In recent months, the world has witnessed “noisy” legal battles targeting activists in Europe. Figures like journalist Le Trung Khoa, lawyer Nguyen Van Dai, or activist Dang Hue Nhu face a dual-pronged attack: First, civil lawsuits from VinFast in German courts. Then, criminal prosecution orders from Hanoi under Article 117 for “propaganda against the state.”
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The Ministry of Public Security’s message to the Vietnamese people is clear: Any citizen sharing or commenting on these pages faces police summons and a 7.5 million dong fine. In my assessment, this strategy aims to control the source of leaks flowing from the military to key opinion leaders, or KOLs, living abroad, while simultaneously sowing fear domestically.
However, in my case, blogger Mother Mushroom, Hanoi and Meta chose a different, “quieter” weapon: the Shadowban.
I was not sued by VinFast. I received no new prosecution order. Instead, I simply “disappeared” from Vietnam’s digital map. All my statuses, articles and even translations or shared links from Asia Times analyzing the 14th Congress were blocked from view in Vietnam from January 15 to January 22, 2026.
On January 22, 2026, the very day the CPV announced the Central Committee list and prepared to elect the General Secretary, my personal Facebook profile was geo-blocked. Vietnamese users could not find me. No notification. No warning. No chance to appeal.
I was completely in the dark until followers shared screenshots of a “Case Study” buried deep in Meta’s Transparency Center. This document is the smoking gun of Big Tech’s complicity. In it, Meta admits blocking me at the request of the Ministry of Public Security, citing Decree 147.
Most damningly, Meta’s report admits two things: Firstly, my content “did not violate Community Standards.” And secondly, the report claims Meta “notified the affected users.” This is a lie. I received absolutely no notification.
Instead of a financial war of attrition like that used against Le Trung Khoa or Nguyen Van Dai, Hanoi is using Meta’s “silent” algorithms to erase me. They know a noisy lawsuit against “Mother Mushroom” would draw unwanted attention, especially since they have tried to erase my name from state media for years.
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So, they submitted a legal demand to let Mark Zuckerberg’s company do the dirty work.
By quietly flipping the switch to block Vietnamese IPs while lying about transparency, Meta is helping the CPV hold its Congress in a sanitized bubble, free from critical dissent. Repression is now a global service provided by Silicon Valley, customized to the needs of authoritarian clients: lawsuits for some, and silence for others.
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, also known as Mother Mushroom, is a Vietnamese writer, human rights commentator and former political prisoner based in Texas, United States. She is the founder of WEHEAR, an independent initiative focusing on Southeast Asian politics, human rights and economic transparency.
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