Vietnam introduces guidelines on Social Media behaviour

Hanoi: Vietnam issued national social media rules on Friday, encouraging individuals to publish good material about the Southeast Asian country and requiring government personnel to report ‘conflicting information’ to their supervisors. The rule forbids posts that break the law or ‘impact the state’s interests,’ and it applies to all governmental organisations, social media firms, and their users in Vietnam.

‘Social media users are encouraged to promote the beauty of Vietnam’s scenery, people and culture, and spread good stories about good people,’ reads the code, which was contained in a decision from the information ministry and dated June 17.

It was unclear how the judgement would be implemented or to what degree it was legally enforceable.

Vietnam’s governing Communist Party tolerates minimal criticism, maintains strict media control, and has led a stepped-up assault on dissidents and activists in recent years, with some receiving lengthy prison sentences for postings on Facebook and Google’s YouTube.

Vietnamese officials reportedly threatened to shut down Facebook in November, last year, if the social media giant did not comply with government efforts to filter more local political information on the network.

According to people familiar with the figures, Vietnam is a key market for Facebook, which has approximately 60 million members and produces over $1 billion in income.

The new code requires social media providers in Vietnam to ‘deal with users in accordance with Vietnamese law,’ when requested by authorities to remove content from their platforms. It urges social media users to use their actual names when creating accounts, to share information from official sources, and to avoid publishing anything that is unlawful, uses offensive language, or promotes illicit activities.

Following an official restriction on speculation ahead of a Party conference in January, Vietnamese social media users utilised false weather forecasts and football results as a creative way to discuss Communist Party leadership squabbling.