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Vietnam fined a TikToker $300 after he made a video suggesting Cambodia's Angkor Wat was in Thailand
09.01.2024 - 17:06 / insider.com
Vietnamese authorities fined a man $300 after he posted a TikTok suggesting that Angkor Wat, an ancient temple complex in Cambodia, was located in Thailand, the state-owned media outlet Lao Dong reported.
Hua Quoc Anh, a Vietnamese makeup artist and content creator, posted a TikTok of his photo shoot at Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, the second-largest city in Cambodia. The video, with overlaid images of the Thai flag and royalty, was posted November 4, per Lao Dong. The phrase "Hello, Thailand" could also be heard in the video, per the report. The video has since been deleted, the report said. Business Insider saw a screenshot of the video but did not watch the TikTok before it was deleted.
On Wednesday, the Vietnamese government charged Quoc Anh with providing "false information" and "insulting the reputation of agencies organizations, honor and dignity of individuals," per Lao Dong. He was fined 7.5 million Vietnamese dong, or $300, per the statement.
The Vietnamese government said Quoc Anh was required to "strictly comply with relevant legal regulations when using the internet" and had to use it in a "responsible, civilized, progressive" manner, per Lao Dong. Vietnam's Department of Information and Communication did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
"Right now, Quoc Anh has too many emotions in his heart that cannot be described in a few lines of text," Quoc Anh wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday, adding that he was "safe" after meeting with authorities. In the same post, he included a photo of himself outside offices of the Department of Information and Communication in Ho Chi Minh City. Quoc Anh did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.
Quoc Anh, who has more than 250,000 followers on Facebook and more than 700,000 followers on TikTok, frequently shares posts of his travels and photo shoots abroad.
Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, told the Japanese news agency Nikkei that the incident was "ridiculous."
"No one really believes that Siem Reap belongs to Thailand," Robertson said. "So the appropriate step would have been to laugh at this social influencer's ignorance rather than resort to criminal penalties," he added.
It's not the first time authorities in Southeast Asia have charged people over videos posted on social-media platforms. In September, Indonesia sentenced a woman to two years in jail after she posted a video saying an Islamic phrase and eating pork on TikTok. In November, a woman in Singapore was sentenced to a week in jail after she posted videos on TikTok of her fiancé at a police station.
Correction: January 8, 2024 — An earlier version of this story incorrectly described Ho Chi Minh City. It is not the capital
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
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