Social Media Giants Take Action Against False Advertisements and Fake News in Vietnam

According to a report by the Ministry of Information and Communications, Facebook took action by blocking and removing over 2,260 posts that contained false information and propaganda against the Communist Party, the government, various brands, individuals, and organizations. Additionally, three impersonating profiles were removed, eight profiles that regularly shared fake news were blocked, and 30 advertising pages were taken down.

Google also played its part by removing 4,910 videos on YouTube that violated guidelines and blocked access to two anti-state YouTube channels from Vietnam.

TikTok, on the other hand, removed 397 links that shared false information, including 139 links that often posted anti-state content. The ministry recently conducted an investigation into TikTok, revealing several violations by the popular Chinese-owned video-sharing app. These violations included storing information that violated Vietnamese law on local servers, ineffective content management, inadequate privacy protection for children, and insufficient policies to safeguard copyrighted content, among others.

In response, the ministry requested TikTok to delete all accounts belonging to users under the age of 13 and to implement restrictions on screen time for users under 18.

With Facebook having over 66 million users, YouTube with 63 million users, and TikTok with 50 million users in Vietnam, the actions taken by these social media giants are significant in combating false information and offensive content in the country.