Limiting the appearance of artists and influencers (KOLs, KOCs) who violate advertising on media, online platforms and performance stages is the message that Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Le Quang Tu Do emphasized at the Conference on online advertising held on the afternoon of July 30.
Resolutely getting involved
Online advertising is booming but has many serious consequences. The situation of false advertising, causing confusion about product uses, especially functional foods, drugs, and cosmetics, is still common.
In the first 6 months of 2025, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has fined 3 cases of violations of false advertising with a total amount of 215 million VND and worked and reminded 7 cases of related celebrities.
Mr. Le Quang Tu Do said: "We have never received many telegrams from the Prime Minister on strengthening the handling and immediately rectifying the situation of counterfeit and fraudulent sales through livestream activities as it is now".
The war in cyberspace becomes more complicated when bad guys use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to create videos impersonating leaders and celebrities for the purpose of fraud or defamation.
New law and tightening regulations
To resolve the shortcomings, the National Assembly has passed a Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Advertising Law, which will take effect from January 1, 2026. The new law is expected to create a more solid legal corridor with many important changes.
Specifically, the law expands the definition of the concept of "online advertising" to include social networks, livestream platforms, and online applications - forms that have not been clearly defined before.
The law clearly defines the obligations of distributors, service providers and distribution platforms.
Celebrities and influential people must be responsible for verifying information and ensuring that the advertising content is consistent with the published product. Advertising must be clearly identified, separate from regular content.
Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen emphasized that artists do not absolutely trust advertising scripts, but must know how to compare information between the content provided with documents about products that have been publicly announced according to regulations.
"With milk advertising helping to increase the height, if artists and KOLs do not compare and check the information provided by the brand, they can easily get caught up in false advertising," Ms. Thanh Huyen gave an example.
She also shared that when working with violating artists, public outrage is huge, especially when they use relatives as evidence, breaking the trust of fans.
In addition to the legal framework, the Department of Ethnic Minorities and Social Insurance will synchronously implement many drastic solutions. Most notably, the initiative related to online advertising management will be determined to be implemented by the Department this year.
Mr. Le Quang Tu Do stated: "The Department wants to do something but it cannot do it yet. That is, this year, the Department must limit the appearance of celebrities and artists in newspapers, platforms and performing stages if they violate".
He added that the Department will coordinate with the Department of Performing Arts to apply this measure. Although this is not a legal regulation, it is an initiative and measure that is expected to create greater deterrence than administrative sanctions.
In parallel, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to promote solutions that have been and are effective. The "White List" initiative will be promoted to call for brands to only place advertisements on clean content channels.
The responsibility of platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Facebook is also emphasized, with the requirement to increase AI filtering and human resources to proactively block and remove bad and toxic content.
At the same time, tighten the conditions for making money, ensuring that only "clean" content is shared in revenue.
