Vietnam is preparing new rules to limit which social media accounts can post news-related content, three people familiar with the matter said.
The rules, expected to be announced by the end of this year and with details yet to be hammered out, would establish a legal basis for controlling news dissemination on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube while placing a significant moderation burden on platform providers, two of the sources said.
The sources asked not to be identified, as discussions about the new rules remain confidential.
Photo: Reuters
The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications and Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“The government wants to fix what it sees as the ‘news-lisation’ of social media,” one source familiar with the talks said. “News-lisation,” or “bao hoa,” is a term used by the authorities to describe the misleading of users into thinking that social media accounts are authorized news outlets.
Government officials have been holding confidential meetings with popular social media and Internet firms to brief them on which types of accounts would be allowed to post news content under the new rules, the sources said.
Authorities would be able to order social media companies to ban accounts that break those rules, they said.
The Vietnamese Communist Party already maintains tight media censorship and tolerates little dissent, with one of the world’s most stringent Internet regimes and national guidelines on social media behavior.
Two sources with direct knowledge said that more rules on Internet and social media platforms would be introduced around the fourth quarter to early next year.
As tech-savvy young Vietnamese increasingly turn to social media for information, those platforms have become a target for government efforts to restrict the flow of news from unauthorized sources.
Vietnam is a top-10 market globally for Facebook with 60 million to 70 million users, according to data from last year, and sources familiar with the matter said that it generates about US$1 billion in annual revenue for the company — surpassing France.
YouTube has 60 million users in Vietnam and TikTok has 20 million, according to government estimates last year, although Twitter remains a relatively small player.
Meta Platforms Inc, owner of Facebook, and Twitter Inc declined to comment.
Alphabet Inc’s Google and YouTube did not respond to requests for comment.
TikTok said in a statement that it addresses content violations based on applicable laws and with adherence to its guidelines, but did not comment on pending Vietnam regulations.
The Vietnamese government in July adopted a set of non-binding guidelines on what qualifies as news firms, including criteria to distinguish “real” and “fake” news outlets, warning that some social networking sites include accounts that mislead users into thinking they are newspapers.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS