Politics
Vietnam ensures it can track who says what on Facebook and TikTok
Teens lose social media access; speech advocates fear dissident voices will go quiet
20250107 Vietnam smartphone
Vietnamese have less than three months to link their phone numbers or IDs to their social media accounts now that what some see as an anti-dissident decree has taken effect. (Nikkei montage)
(LIEN HOANG, Nikkei staff writer - January 8, 2025 11:05 JST)
HO CHI MINH CITY - Vietnam is requiring Facebook, TikTok and other platforms to verify users' phone numbers under a law that activists say will expose dissidents in the one-party state.
Decree 147 also bans teens from social media unless their parents sign up for them, requires networks to give "blue tick" authentication to government agencies, and restricts underage gaming. This last restriction is further tightened when it comes to titles with a gambling element.
Hanoi says tech companies that violate the decree face having their platforms blocked from the internet in Vietnam. Other provisions they must follow include removing content authorities deem offensive within 24 hours and limiting news from unofficial accounts.
Internet companies have 75 more days to verify phone numbers or users' identification cards. In addition, they should "provide information of violating users to state management agencies upon request," the information ministry said. Users can be considered in violation of a wide range of policies such as by defaming authorities.
"Because the Vietnamese police treat any criticism of the Communist Party of Vietnam as a national security matter, this decree will provide them with yet another tool to suppress dissent," said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
The authoritarian country's new rules expose critics "who have tended to post anonymously to a risk of arrest," the group said.
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While Vietnamese factories increasingly supply Apple, BYD, soju maker Jinro and companies leaving China, the fast-growing economy's trade partners are expressing alarm at the shrinking space for civil society, including high-profile arrests of environmentalists and bloggers.
Leaked diplomatic notes from the U.K. complain of a "worsening" rights situation in the Southeast Asian country of 100 million, as well as of officials obstructing a coal phase-out championed by environmentalists, Politico reports.
The new decree does not allow citizens younger than 16 to join social networks unless their parents agree. In that case "parents or supervisors shall use their personal information to register for accounts and have to supervise and manage the content posted or shared by children," the government said on its website.
Australia led the world in banning under-16s from social media, doing so late last year. The move is being watched around the globe as concern grows about how platforms might be impairing mental health and attention spans.
Vietnam also is using 16 as the starting age for online games. Publishers must verify players' phone numbers, get parents to register for children under 16 and avoid content that "simulates games with prizes in casino businesses" or includes assault, porn, alcohol or "vulgarity contrary to the traditional ethics, culture and customs of the nation," Decree 147 says.
The rules include detailed guidelines for social media pages and other websites that share news. They are barred from using domain names that resemble official news outlets, reposting articles until an hour after publication, and hosting reader comments. Vietnam tightly controls the press, with most domestic outlets run by the state or affiliated with an authority such as a ministry.
The information ministry said in a press release the decree would "strengthen information security" and "facilitate domestic service providers to thrive and compete equally with foreign businesses."
The release ends with a PowerPoint presentation that depicts tech giants from YouTube to Snapchat as pills, suggesting parallels between social media use and recreational drug use.
Meta - which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp - said it had no comment. Snapchat, TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance, and YouTube owner Google did not reply to Nikkei's comment requests.
According to Ho Chi Minh City-based research firm Decision Lab, 92% of Vietnamese internet users are on Facebook and local chat app Zalo.
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