Top Vietnamese brands suspend YouTube advertising deals

By Nguyen Ha, Chau An   March 2, 2017 | 01:47 am PT
Top Vietnamese brands suspend YouTube advertising deals
A picture illustration shows YouTube on a cell phone, in front of a YouTube copyright message regarding a video on an LCD screen. Photo by Reuters/Dado Ruvic
The website has reportedly violated the country’s advertising regulations by publishing inappropriate content.

Several major domestic enterprises have stopped advertising on YouTube following the government’s announcement that the platform is violating Vietnamese laws.

Speaking with VnExpress, Vietnam’s largest dairy producer Vinamilk said that they had cancelled their adverts on YouTube and sent a document about the case to the information ministry.

“We have temporarily suspended our advertising plans on YouTube until our partner and the site send us a report and a list of solutions,” Vinamilk said in the document. “We’re in full compliance with Vietnamese law and won’t allow a similar incident to happen again.”

State-owned carrier Vietnam Airlines, major infant formula manufacturer Mead Johnson Nutrition Vietnam and a heavyweight real estate player also claimed they had asked their advertising agencies to halt promotional content on the site.

The information ministry recently found 17 YouTube videos that contained slanderous content and distorted historical facts about Vietnam that could stir public unrest. These videos contained advertisements for Vietnamese companies that had signed contracts with the platform through third parties to promote their brands.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism added that it will conduct further investigations and impose a penalty on YouTube for violating Vietnamese advertising regulations.

A decree effective from 2013 regulates that cross-border online platforms wishing to run ads aimed at local audiences must submit the names, addresses and other business details of their clients to government agencies first. However, YouTube has continued to display ads without doing so.

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