Youme Law Firm LLC replied: According to Decree 147/2024/ND-CP, users need to pay attention to the following points:
(1) How to distinguish foreign social networks and domestic social networks
Foreign social networks: Provided by organizations, businesses or individuals from abroad, operating across borders and may not fully comply with Vietnamese laws.
Domestic social networks: Provided by organizations and businesses registered in Vietnam, including:
Large social networks: Have a large number of regular users (over 10,000 visits/month or over 1,000 users/month).
Small social networks: Have a smaller number of regular users (less than 10,000 visits/month or less than 1,000 users/month).
(2) Children under 16 years old will register for a social network account using their parents' information.
In case the user of social networking services is a child (under 16 years old), the child's parents or civil guardians must register an account using the information of the child's parents or civil guardians and are responsible for monitoring and managing the content that the child accesses, posts and shares information on social networks.
(3) Only verified social media accounts can post.
From December 25, 2024, social media accounts must be verified with a Vietnamese mobile phone number. In case there is no phone number, a personal identification number will be used. Only verified accounts can post, comment or livestream.
(4) Cases of temporary or permanent social network account blocking from December 25, 2024
For cross-border social networks:
Social media accounts that repeatedly violate the law (at least 5 times/30 days or 10 times/90 days) will be strictly handled. Specifically, management agencies such as the Ministry of Information and Communications can request temporary account lock (7-30 days) or permanent lock, depending on the severity of the violation. For content that violates national security or repeats violations, the account will be permanently locked.
For domestic social networks:
Accounts that post violating content 5 times in 30 days or 10 times in 90 days will be locked for 7-30 days, depending on the severity of the violation. The decision to lock will be made upon written or electronic request from agencies such as the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security, and local Departments of Information and Communications.
Accounts that post content that violates national security or have been temporarily locked 3 or more times will be permanently locked.
(5) Social network account names must not be the same as the name of the press agency.
Specifically, account owners, content channel owners, community page owners, community group administrators on social networks are not allowed to name their accounts, pages, channels, or groups similar to or identical to the names of press agencies or have words (in Vietnamese or equivalent foreign languages) that can be confused with press agencies or press activities such as: Newspaper, radio, magazine, news, news, radio, television, media, news agency, news agency...
(6) Remove illegal information from social media accounts within 24 or 48 hours
Account owners, channels, pages, and groups on social networks are responsible for immediately removing content that violates the law, infringes on the rights of others, or is harmful to children upon receiving a request from a competent authority or user. The maximum processing time is 24 hours for a request from a competent authority and 48 hours for a user complaint.
(7) Do not use social networks to produce content in the form of reports, investigations, or press interviews.
