and Fanny
Potkin
April 20, 20225:59 PM GMT+7
A Facebook user logs in on his mobile at a cafe in Hanoi, Vietnam November 19, 2020. REUTERS/Kham/
HANOI/SINGAPORE, April 20
(Reuters) - Vietnam is preparing new rules requiring social media firms to take
down content it deems illegal within 24 hours, three people with direct
knowledge of the matter said.
The planned amendments to current
law will cement Vietnam, a $1 billion market for Facebook, as one of the
world's most stringent regimes for social media firms and will strengthen the
ruling Communist Party's hand as it cracks down on "anti-state"
activity.
The 24-hour time frame to take
down "illegal content and services" will not have a grace period,
while active "illegal livestreams" must be blocked within three
hours, the people said. Companies that do not meet the deadlines could see
their platforms banned in the country, they added.
Social media companies have also been told content that harms
national security must be taken down immediately, according to two of the
people and a third source.
Currently, social media platforms
often have a few days to handle requests from the Vietnamese government, the
sources said.
The amendments, which have not
been made public, are expected to be signed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh
next month and enforced from July, five people said.
Sources who spoke with Reuters
for this article declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Vietnam's communications and foreign ministries did not respond to requests for
comment.
Representatives for
Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O) and
Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), which owns YouTube and Google,
declined to comment. Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) said
it had no immediate comment.
TikTok, which is owned by China's
ByteDance, will continue to comply with applicable local laws to ensure TikTok
remains a safe space for creative expression, its Vietnam representative Nguyen
Lam Thanh told Reuters, adding it would take down content that breaks platform
guidelines.
Most governments do not have laws
imposing the taking down of content on social media firms, but Vietnam's move
comes amid intensifying crackdowns in some parts of the world on online content
that have alarmed activists.
Indonesia's government is also
preparing to impose a similar 24-hour time frame for government requests,
sources have told Reuters. read more
India requires government
requests to be met within 36 hours.
A MAJOR MARKET
Vietnam, with a population of 98
million, is among Facebook's top 10 markets by user numbers with 60-70 million
people on the platform, according to 2021 company data.
The country generates around $1
billion in annual revenue for Facebook and is more profitable than many
European markets, according to sources familiar with the matter.
YouTube has 60 million users in
Vietnam and TikTok has 20 million, according to 2021 government estimates.
Twitter is not as popular as most Vietnamese see it as an English forum.
But the market poses ethical
quandaries. Vietnam's Communist Party tolerates little criticism and the
country's courts have handed out lengthy jail terms to dissidents and activists
for posts critical of the government on Facebook and YouTube.
Government efforts to exert
control over online content have only intensified. A cybersecurity law
introduced in 2019 was followed up by national guidelines on social media
behaviour in June last year.
In 2020, Facebook agreed to
significantly increase the censorship of "anti-state" posts for local
users after Vietnamese authorities slowed traffic to its platform and
threatened to shut it down entirely, company sources have previously told
Reuters.
Facebook said at the time it had
reluctantly complied with the government's request to "restrict access to
content which it has deemed to be illegal".
HARD TO IMPLEMENT
The planned changes stem from the
government's dissatisfaction with current take-down rates for its requests, the
sources said.
According to data from Vietnam's
communications ministry, during the first quarter of 2022, Facebook complied
with 90% of the government's take-down requests, Alphabet complied with 93% and
TikTok complied with 73%.
The sources said in addition to
removing "illegal" content, the government wants social media firms
to change algorithms to limit content concerning sexually suggestive material,
gambling and the sale of unregulated medicines and supplements.
The government is also keen to
take down accounts of celebrities it believes are using their influence to sell
unsuitable products, defame others and promote false charitable causes, they
said.
Social media firms will have
difficulty complying with take-down requests in 24 hours, the sources added.
They noted that while obvious
infractions of their own company rules like depictions of extreme violence can
be handled very quickly, other requests take longer to assess and finding
qualified staff is a challenge.
Reporting
by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi and Fanny Potkin in Singapore; Editing by Edwina Gibbs
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