Toxic content on TikTok has decreased significantly

This assessment was made by Mr. Le Quang Tu Do - Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information, at the regular press conference of the Ministry of Information and Communications, held on the afternoon of November 6.

Mr. Do said that after announcing the results of a comprehensive inspection of TikTok's operations in Vietnam, the Ministry of Information and Communications had a meeting with TikTok Singapore (the unit directly involved in managing and providing cross-border services to Vietnam) and TikTok Vietnam Company.

"Currently, TikTok Singapore has sent a commitment to the Ministry. However, we request that it be broken down, appendices added, and there be a time and progress for implementation. They are working on it and are expected to send it back this week," said Mr. Do.

According to Mr. Le Quang Tu Do, TikTok Singapore is committed to complying with all requirements of the Ministry of Information and Communications regarding content management, especially content related to children.

"In recent months, using the monitoring tools of the Ministry and the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information, we have seen that the TikTok platform has had positive changes, and toxic content has decreased significantly," Mr. Do shared.

The Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information added that when the unit sent a request to remove violating content, TikTok complied, blocked it quickly and focused on blocking accounts, not just blocking clips like before.

Previously, on October 5, the Ministry of Information and Communications announced the results of a comprehensive inspection of TikTok's operations in Vietnam.

Accordingly, the subjects of inspection are two legal entities of TikTok in Vietnam, including: TikTok Pte. Ltd Representative Office in Ho Chi Minh City (TikTok Office) and TikTok Vietnam Technology Company Limited (TikTok Vietnam Company).

The verification results show that TikTok Office and TikTok Vietnam Company are not directly involved in managing and providing cross-border services to Vietnam through the TikTok.com website and TikTok application. The provision of cross-border services to Vietnam is directly managed and operated by TikTok Pte.Ltd (TikTok Singapore).

Regarding e-commerce trading floor services, because TikTok Office carries out the registration procedure to establish a "Commercial Trading Floor" through the TikTok application under the authorization of TikTok Singapore, according to the regulations on e-commerce, TikTok Office must be jointly responsible for violations in providing this service according to the provisions of Vietnamese law.

"TikTok Singapore is not the subject of inspection but is the unit that directly manages, operates, and provides cross-border services to Vietnam through the TikTok.com website and TikTok application. Therefore, TikTok Singapore is the unit responsible for complying with the provisions of Vietnamese law in providing cross-border services to Vietnam," the conclusion stated.

According to the announcement of the Ministry of Information and Communications, the inspection team has identified a number of violations by TikTok Singapore in providing cross-border services to Vietnam, including social networking services, child protection, and e-commerce services.

Regarding the provision of social networking services and child protection, TikTok Singapore stores information that violates Vietnamese law on CDN servers in Vietnam. Specifically, it is fake information, distorted information, information that incites violence, incites social evils; information that is harmful to children... The content censorship process is not effective, allowing many contents that violate Vietnamese law to be leaked.

In addition, TikTok does not have measures or tools to ensure the safety of children's private information; does not send warning messages when children provide or change their private information; does not organize information reception, assessment and classification according to the level of safety for children, and still allows children under 13 years old to open accounts even though it is a social networking platform only for people aged 13 and over...