Facebook and Google must remove content and block accounts that violate Vietnamese law.

Decree 147/2024/ND-CP of the Government regulating the management, provision and use of Internet services and online information will take effect from December 25.

One of the new points of Decree 147 is that foreign organizations, businesses, and individuals providing cross-border services to Vietnam such as Facebook, Google, Netflix, etc. must follow the procedure for handling illegal content, services, and applications as follows:

For the prevention and removal of illegal content, services and applications, foreign organizations, enterprises and individuals must do so within 24 hours of receiving a written request or via electronic means from the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), the Ministry of Public Security or a competent authority as prescribed by specialized laws.

For social network accounts, community pages, community groups, and content channels that regularly provide illegal content (within 30 days, there are at least 5 times of providing illegal content or within 90 days, there are at least 10 times of providing illegal content that the Ministry of Information and Communications or the Ministry of Public Security requests to be blocked or removed), foreign organizations, businesses, and individuals must temporarily block accounts, community pages, community groups, and content channels from allowing users in Vietnam to access them no later than 24 hours from the time of a written request or via electronic means from the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security, or a competent authority as prescribed by specialized laws.

Temporary lock period from 7 days to 30 days, depending on the number and severity of violations.

Upon request of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security or competent authorities as prescribed by specialized laws, foreign organizations, businesses and individuals shall permanently block accounts, community pages, community groups and content channels from being accessed by users in Vietnam when posting content that violates national security or has been temporarily blocked 3 times or more.

Foreign organizations, businesses and individuals are responsible for preventing and promptly removing, within 24 hours at the latest, content that violates Vietnam's national security.

In case foreign organizations, enterprises and individuals fail to promptly prevent and remove content that violates Vietnam's national security as requested, the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Public Security will deploy technical measures to block all content, services and applications on the network that violate the law and take administrative sanctions according to regulations.

Preventive measures will only be removed after violations have been handled by foreign organizations, businesses and individuals at the request of competent authorities.

A representative of a large unit providing cross-border services in Vietnam said that with the provisions of the law, the platform will comply and when there is confirmation from the authorities, the information posted as a violation will be immediately removed according to the law.

In addition, if accounts violate community standards and local laws, the platform will take regulatory measures such as removing content and even locking accounts with serious violations.