Vietnam to tighten control over social media livestreaming

By Dat Nguyen July 12, 2021 | 01:43 am PT

A woman practices livestreaming on social media in a training course in Hanoi in July, 2021. Photo by VnExpress.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has proposed several regulations to tighten control on livestream activities on social media like Facebook and Youtube.

Cross-border social media must demand operators of accounts with 10,000 or more followers/subscribers in Vietnam to provide contact information to the ministry, a draft decree says.

It also requires websites and apps with 100,000 or more monthly frequent users to register with the ministry.

Only registered accounts can host livestream videos to sell goods and services.

The social media platforms will also be asked to block or remove flagged content within 24 hours upon "justified" requests by Vietnamese individuals and organizations affected by such content.

The ministry estimates that by the end of June, the top 10 Vietnamese social media platforms had a total of around 80 million users.

But the popularity of these platforms is low compared to foreign competitors like Facebook with 65 million users, Youtube (60 million) and TikTok (20 million).

These platforms have not fully abided by Vietnamese laws, the ministry says. A lot of the content is fake news, causing instability and frustration in the society and inequality between domestic and foreign companies.

Many individuals and organizations use these platforms to livestream and provide incorrect and offensive information about individuals and organizations, the ministry said.