The Government has issued Decree No. 174/2026/ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the fields of post, telecommunications, electronic transactions and information technology with many notable changes compared to Decree 15/2020/ND-CP before. One of the highlights is the significant increase in penalties for many violations on social networks and cyberspace.
According to Decree 174, the act of providing and sharing false and untrue information causing panic among the people, affecting economic and social activities or causing difficulties for state agencies may be fined from 30 to 50 million VND if it is not serious enough to be prosecuted for criminal liability.
Meanwhile, according to Decree 15/2020/ND-CP, acts of providing and sharing fake information, false information, distortion, slander, and insult to the reputation of agencies, organizations and personal honor on social networks are often fined from 10 to 20 million VND for organizations. Individuals who violate are fined half the amount, equivalent to about 5 to 10 million VND. Thus, the penalty level according to Decree 174 has been significantly higher than before.
For acts of insulting the prestige of agencies, organizations or personal honor and dignity in the online environment, Decree 174 stipulates a fine of 20 to 30 million VND. While previously, similar acts under Decree 15 were often fined at a lower level, commonly from 5 to 10 million VND for violating individuals.
The new Decree also clearly stipulates the acts of disseminating harmful content on social networks such as: Obscene and depraved content; Promoting social evils; Detailed description of violent and murderous acts; Horrorous and offensive images that negatively affect social morality and community health.
In addition, Decree 174 supplements and clarifies the responsibilities of group administrators, account holders, and content channel owners on social networks.
According to the new regulations, these subjects may be penalized if they do not prevent or remove violating information as requested by competent authorities. Meanwhile, previous regulations have not specifically emphasized the responsibility of content management for this group of subjects.
Another notable point is that the act of sharing journalistic, literary, artistic, or publishing works without the consent of the copyright owner or without permission to circulate may also be fined from 20 to 30 million VND according to the new Decree.
In addition to fines, Decree 174 also stipulates many remedial measures such as forcing the removal of violating information, locking accounts, pages, community groups or channels of violating content on social networks.
Decree No. 174/2026/ND-CP includes 8 chapters, 117 articles and will take effect from July 1, 2026.
