According to the Government Electronic Information Portal on May 23, in Official Letter No. 2312/CVT-CS issued by the Telecommunications Department on May 2, based on Document No. 2898/A05-P5 dated April 24 of the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control (A05) under the Ministry of Public Security, the Telecommunications Department has clearly pointed out urgent legal and practical grounds requiring immediate action against Telegram.
According to Department A05, the Telegram application is being exploited as a support tool for many types of crimes thanks to its strong encryption capabilities, high anonymousness and ease of organizing large-scale user groups.
This agency said that up to 68% of the total 9,600 channels and Telegram groups in Vietnam have bad and toxic content. Many groups with tens of thousands of members were set up by reactionary subjects to disseminate anti-terrorism documents, along with fraudulent acts, user data trafficking, drugs and even suspected terrorist attacks.
The Telecommunications Administration emphasizes that the provision of cross-border information to Vietnam must comply with Vietnamese law. However, Telegram has not completed the procedure for notifying the requested service since January 1 as prescribed in the Telecommunications Law and Decree 147/2024/ND-CP. This violates Clause 4, Article 9 of the Telecommunications Law, accordingly, the act of providing telecommunications services without permission is strictly prohibited.
In that context, the Telecommunications Department has transferred the document of Department A05 to telecommunications enterprises and requested them to deploy the necessary technical solutions to prevent the operation of the Telegram application in Vietnam. Telecommunications enterprises are required to report solutions and implementation results to the Department of Telecommunications before June 2.
Decree 163/2024/ND-CP also clearly stipulates the responsibility of enterprises in coordinating with state agencies to handle information of violations. If cross-border platforms do not cooperate, competent authorities are allowed to apply technical measures to prevent it.
This move shows the strong coordination between management agencies to protect people and maintain a safe and healthy cyberspace. blocking Telegram, if fully implemented, can significantly prevent illegal activities on the Internet in Vietnam.
