Vietnam Tightens The Net: New Social Media Rules Set in Stone
Vietnam is pushing ahead with a bold move that will make its social‑media policies some of the toughest on the planet. The nation is gearing up to force platforms to remove any content deemed illegal within 24 hours.
Key Points of the Coming Law
- Fast‑track deletion: No grace period – content flagged as illegal must vanish by the end of the day.
- Livestream emergency: Live streams that break the rules are to be blocked in just three hours.
- National security first: Anything that could threaten national stability must be taken down immediately.
- Consequences: Platforms that fail to meet the deadlines risk being banned entirely.
Why This Matters
Currently, Vietnamese authorities allow several days for social networks to comply with requests. The new amendments will cut that time drastically and cement Vietnam’s reputation as a serial “back‑door” regulator of the internet.
What the Big Players Are Saying
- Meta (Facebook) and Alphabet (YouTube/Google) didn’t want to comment.
- Twitter declined to add anything to the mix.
- TikTok, run by China’s ByteDance, said it will keep up with local laws and remove content that bars its guidelines.
The Bigger Picture
Countries worldwide are stepping up their censorship efforts.
- Indonesia is eyeing a similar 24‑hour window.
- India offers a 36‑hour response time for government requests.
These tightening measures raise eyebrows among activists, sparking concerns about the growing global clamp‑down on online expression.
Next Steps for Vietnam
While the amendments remain unpublicised, insiders hint that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh will sign off on them soon, and enforcement should kick in by July.
A major market
Vietnam’s Digital Boom: A Tale of Social Media, Money, and a Dash of Politics
Picture a country where almost every second person is glued to a phone, scrolling through stories, memes, and the occasional dance challenge. That’s Vietnam for you, a lively 98‑million‑strong nation that’s become one of Facebook’s star players, raking in a tidy $1 billion each year.
Facebook’s Golden Page in Vietnam
- About 60‑70 million Viets have hopped onto Facebook as of 2021.
- This slice of the market is more profitable than a handful of European rivals, according to insiders.
Other Platforms in the Picture
- YouTube follows close behind with roughly 60 million users.
- TikTok, the hub for quick, catchy streams, has around 20 million.
- Twitter stays on the sidelines; most Vietnamese view it as a mostly English‑speaking space.
Under the Watchful Eye of the Viet‑Com
Behind the digital buzz, the scene gets a bit darker. Vietnam’s Communist Party keeps a tight grip on the flow of information, and the courts can hand out lengthy jail time for anyone stirring up a dissenting online debate.
In 2019, the government rolled out a cybersecurity law that tightened rules on digital chatter. Fast forward to June last year, and new guidelines were introduced that outline how users should behave on social media. The goal? Keep the net safe from what officials consider “dangerous” content.
What If “Think‑Tanks” Are Caught?
Facebook’s CEO had no choice but to step back and do a little “Please, no political drama” drill: they agreed to beef up censorship on posts flagged as “anti‑state” after the authorities throttled traffic to the platform and, at one point, threatened to pull the plug entirely.
In truth, the platform seemed to shrug, “Alright, we’ll cull whatever the government sees as illegal.” That’s the tic‑tick of the digital age in a country balancing coexistence with limits.
Hard to implement
Vietnam’s Social Media Take‑Down Storm
The government is getting a little cranky about how fast its requests are being answered. According to data from Vietnam’s Communications Ministry, the first quarter of 2022 saw a patchy performance on the “remove it” front:
- Facebook: 90 % compliance
- Alphabet (Google): 93 % compliance
- TikTok: 73 % compliance
So what’s the new plan? The authorities want a whole fresh recipe for how social platforms handle content:
- Scrub illegal content faster—no more “silence for the sake of silence.”
- Make algorithms do a bit of magic to flag and limit certain topics: sexually suggestive material, gambling, and the sale of unregulated drugs or supplements.
- And please, please stop the celebrity chatter that’s selling questionable products, slandering people, or prompting bogus charity drives.
But here’s the twist: 24‑hour deadlines are a tall order. Platforms say they can swoop in on blatant infractions—think extreme violence or clear rule violations—pretty quickly. The tricky part comes when the request isn’t as obvious; these take longer to flag, and companies are short on the dedicated staff needed to check every single request.
What’s at stake?
In the end, Vietnam’s request is simple: service the order faster, rethink your algorithms, and stay on the good side of the celebrity game. Will Facebook, Google, and TikTok rise to the occasion? Only time (and their new take‑down charters) will tell.
