Fanny Potkin, Phuong Nuyen

HANOI/SINGAPORE – Three persons with knowledge of the situation said that Vietnam is preparing new regulations for social media platforms, requiring them to immediately take down illegal content.

These planned changes to the law will make Vietnam (NASDAQ:) a 1 billion-dollar market for Facebook. They will also cement Vietnam’s status as one of the most strict regimes in the world for social media companies. This will help the ruling Communist Party strengthen its hand against “anti-state” activities.

People stated that the 24 hour timeframe to eliminate “illegal services and content” is not subject to grace periods. However, “illegal livestreams” should be stopped within three hours. They warned that platforms could be banned if they fail to meet these deadlines.

Two people from the government and one third source said that social media platforms must immediately remove content that could harm national security.

According to sources, current social media platforms are often given a few extra days by the Vietnamese government in order to respond to requests.

Five people confirmed that the amendments will be made public by Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister, next month. They are then expected to become effective from July.

Due to the sensitive nature of this issue, sources who spoke to Reuters about the article withheld their identities. Requests for comment were not received from Vietnam’s foreign ministries and communications.

Reps from Alphabet (NASDAQ) Inc and Meta Platforms Inc, Facebook’s owners, were unable to comment. Alphabet is the company that owns YouTube. Twitter Inc (NYSE:) stated that it has no comment at this time.

TikTok, China’s ByteDance owns, will adhere to applicable laws in order to protect TikTok as a space for creativity, Nguyen La Thanh, the representative of TikTok Vietnam told Reuters. Nguyen also stated that it would delete content violating platform guidelines.

While most governments don’t have laws that require the removal of social media content, Vietnam’s action comes amid increasing crackdowns around the globe on internet content which have alarm activists.

Sources tell Reuters that the Indonesian government also plans to impose a 24-hour limit on government requests.

India expects government requests to be answered within 36 hours.

MAJOR MARKET

Vietnam is home to 98 million people and ranks among the top 10 Facebook market users, having 60-70 million of those using Facebook, according data from 2021.

According to people familiar with the matter, this country is worth around $1 billion annually in Facebook revenue and more lucrative than other European markets.

According to government estimates for 2021, YouTube is used by 60 million people in Vietnam while TikTok boasts 20 million. It isn’t as well-known as many Vietnamese consider it to be an English forum.

However, the market can pose ethical problems. Vietnam’s Communist Party is tolerant of criticism. The country’s courts have sentenced activists and dissidents to long prison terms for comments they made about the government through Facebook or YouTube.

The government’s efforts to control online content has only increased. The cybersecurity law, which was introduced in 2019, was supplemented by national guidelines in June on the use of social media.

Facebook will significantly expand the censorship on “anti-state” posts by local users in 2020 after Vietnamese authorities slowed traffic, according to company sources.

Facebook responded to the government’s request for “restrictions on access to content that it has deemed unlawful” at the time.

HARD TO IMPLEMENT

Sources said that the planned changes are the result of dissatisfaction at the current rates at which the government takes down its requests.

Data from Vietnam’s communication ministry shows that Facebook fulfilled 90% of government take-down requests during the first quarter 2022. Alphabet was able to comply with 93%, while TikTok was able to comply with 73%.

According to sources, in addition to the removal of illegal content, government officials want social media platforms to alter algorithms to restrict content regarding sexually suggestive material and gambling.

According to them, the government also wants to delete celebrity accounts that it suspects are using their influence for unsuitable products or defamation of others, and to promote fraudulent charitable causes.

According to sources, social media businesses will struggle with complying within 24 hours to take down requests.

The company’s rules can be broken in obvious cases, such as depictions of violence extreme, but other requests require more time and are difficult to evaluate.