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Reuters
A decree establishing a national internet gateway that can control and monitor online activity in Cambodia is likely to seriously restrict freedom of expression in the country, journalists said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen signed an order to launch a National Internet Gateway similar to China’s complex network of blocks, filters, and human censorship known as the Great Firewall which will regulate all online traffic in the interest of “protecting national security and maintaining social order.”
The gateway will provide authorities with “measures to prevent and disconnect all network connections that affect national income, security, social order, morality, culture, traditions and customs,” the decree said.
Cambodia has expanded government monitoring of
social media to include apps like
TikTok, WhatsApp and Telegram in a bid to target
fake news. Though intended in part to combat misinformation about COVID-19, the
announcement has raised concerns about a new wave of censorship of independent media
and political opposition in the country.
Cambodia’s
Information Ministry is expanding its monitoring of social media to messaging apps like
WhatsApp and Telegram, as well as TikTok. The government has said that it made the
decision out of concern about fake news regarding COVID-19.
Human
rights groups warn that the government’s attempt to tackle fake news is yet
Some have even been broadcasting fake news, which constitutes a crime, Hun Sen noted.
The prime minister made the statement to mark his 5th annual media correspondents’ meeting scheduled for January 14, which was cancelled this year due to Covid-19 concerns.
“I strongly urge all journalists to just stick to the facts and do things the right way. You’re supposed to be professionals, so act like one. Don’t resort to insults or gossip and don’t go out of your way to offend people or go around making things up, either,” he wrote.
Hun Sen said a small cadre of corrupt journalists had spent the whole past year extorting people and taking bribes, either in exchange for dropping scandalous stories or promoting profitable lies.
Cambodian journalist jailed over land dispute report
Committee to Protect Journalists says Sok Oudom was convicted on bogus incitement charges
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Sok Oudom was charged with criminal incitement after reporting on a land dispute involving the military in Kampong Chhnang province. (Photo: Reporters Without Borders)
A Cambodian journalist has been jailed for 20 months for his reporting on a land dispute involving the military.
Kampong Chhnang Provincial Court on Dec. 22 convicted Sok Oudom of broadcasting false news with intent to cause incitement.
He was also ordered to pay a fine of 20 million riel (US$4,950), according to a report by CamboJA, a news website run by the Cambodian Journalists Alliance.