Hanoi

Vietnam has tightened regulations pertaining to "false" content on social media platforms. Such content will now have to be taken down within 24 hours instead of 48 hours previously. Vietnam's information minister made an announcement about it on Friday (November 4). With the new regulations in place, Vietnam has become world's most stringently controlled regime for social media firms. The move is likely to strengthen ruling Community Party's position. 

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Minister of information and communications Nguyen Manh Hung told parliament there was risk that "false news, if it is handled in a slow manner, will spread very widely."

Reuters had previously reported government's plans to bring in the new regulations, as well as rules that very sensitive information has to be taken down within three hours.

Most governments do not have laws imposing the taking down of content on social media paltforms, but Vietnam's move comes amid intensifying crackdowns on online content in some parts of the world.

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Hung claimed that penalties for spreading misinformation in Vietnam were only one-tenth the level of other countries in the region.

"The ministry will propose to the government an increase in administrative fines to a level that is high enough to deter the public," he said.

Speaking to the legislature, Hung proposed to completely deal with "News-lisation", a term used by authorities to describe when people are misled into thinking that social media accounts are authorised news outlets, by 2023.

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(With inputs from agencies)

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