Vietnam may prohibit unverified social media commenting

At a Ho Chi Minh City People’s Council meeting Tuesday, Lam Dinh Thang, director of the HCMC Department of Information and Communications, said regulations regarding information management on social media have no guidelines or mechanisms with which to be enforced.

Therefore changes should be proposed, he argued.

Thang suggested banning all unverified social media accounts in the long run, but as a first step at least prohibiting commenting by social media accounts. Trans-border accounts would also need to abide by Vietnamese law, he said.

Verifying social media accounts requires that their owners provide their real names, phone numbers and email addresses.

In a draft of a decree on managing and providing Internet services, the Ministry of Information and Communications also proposed that accounts be verified with their owners’ real names and phone numbers before they can write posts, comments and do livestreams. Social media platforms, both inside and outside of Vietnam, must verify their users and provide their identities upon authorities’ request, the ministry said.

Thang said fake and inaccurate news mainly spreads online through trans-border online services like YouTube, Facebook and TikTok, which are all popular with Vietnamese. While Vietnamese authorities can deal with local violations, he said, completely eliminating fake news on trans-border social media remained difficult.

Thang said businesses that manage trans-border social media services do have legal representatives in Vietnam. When authorities request removal of content, most businesses find ways to avoid doing so.

The information department has cooperated with HCMC police to crack down on suspected criminal activities in cyberspace. Last year, the department had handed over 28 cases, and 18 this year, to authorities. The department has also proposed that the information ministry deal with 30 flagged social media accounts showing signs of violations.