On January 3, the Department of Cinema sent an official letter to Netflix Company requesting the removal of the movie "Shine on me".
The official dispatch clearly states: "Through state management activities on cinema, the Cinema Department received information that Netflix Company is disseminating the movie "Shine on me" (English name: "Shine on me") online through the domain name https://www.netflix.com and the Netflix application to users in Vietnam. The film is 27 episodes long, currently being disseminated in Vietnam to episode 25, the film is classified by Netflix and displays film classification level at T13 (13+): The film is distributed to viewers aged 13 and over.
Through inspection and review, the results showed that: the film has many map images containing the cow's tongue line, showing incorrectly, infringing upon Vietnam's national sovereignty (in episode 25 - from 32 minutes 10 seconds to 34 minutes 03 seconds...)".
The Department of Cinema emphasized: "Based on the inspection results, the film "Shine on me" (English title: "Shine on me") was classified as a level C film by the Department of Cinema - The film is not allowed to be disseminated due to violating the provisions of point d, clause 1, Article 9 of the 2022 Cinema Law.
Implementing the provisions of Clause 2, Article 15 of Decree No. 131/2022/ND-CP dated December 31, 2022 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Cinema Law, the Cinema Department requests Netflix Company to immediately remove the movie "Shine on me" (English name: "Shine on me") at the domain address https://www.netflix.com and the Netflix application within 24 hours from 9:00 PM on January 3, 2026 and have a written report of the implementation results sent to the Cinema Department before 10:00 PM on January 4, 2026".
Previously, in October 2025, images of "cut roads" appeared in episode 16 of the film, causing a large number of Vietnamese audiences to be angry.
Distribution platforms in Vietnam also quickly removed all 16 episodes that had been posted, and stopped broadcasting this film.
