The new regulations will solidify Vietnam’s status as one of the most tightly regulated social media regimes in the world and will give the Communist Party in power more leverage as it cracks down
“anti-state” behavior.
Nguyen Manh Hung, the minister of information and communications, warned the legislature that “fake news, if handled in a slow manner, would spread extremely extensively.”
Reuters had previously reported government plans to bring in new restrictions as well as rules such that particularly sensitive content has to be taken down within three hours.
Most governments do not have legislation requiring social media companies to remove content, but Vietnam’s action coincides with escalating global crackdown on online content.
According to Hung, Vietnam’s present penalties for posting and disseminating false information are only a tenth of what their Southeast Asian counterparts apply.
Vietnam, 1$ billion market for Facebook, has tightened interest regulations over the past several years, leading to the introduction of national guidelines on social media activity in June of last year and a cybersecurity law that took effect in 2019.
