TikTok needs to correct violations in Vietnam: ministry

Short-form video hosting service TikTok needs to correct several violations it has committed in providing a transnational commercial platform in Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The information ministry has urged the Ministry of Industry and Trade to work with TikTok to fix the violations, which include not releasing information about owners of the TikTok Shop app, not storing sellers’ information properly, and insufficient monitoring and checking of product information on the platform.

The information ministry wants TikTok to improve consumer protection and prevention of counterfeit goods. The platform should also provide information about sellers on the e-commerce platform in order to allow inspection and handling of violations related to tax and e-commerce activities.

TikTok should also prepare to remove products and services with violations within 24 hours of receiving such requests from authorities, ban or reject sellers committing violations, and take steps to prevent the sale of products that infringe intellectual property rights, said Le Quang Do, head of the Broadcasting and Electronic Information Authority under the ministry.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade was asked to help TikTok in completing the registration process, improve the platform’s capacity to handle conflicts related to TikTok Shop in Vietnam, punish TikTok for its violations and monitor the platform as it fixed its violations.

Regarding non-commercial violations by TikTok, the information ministry asked the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs to take additional measures to protect children on cyberspace and monitor TikTok’s protection of kids from vices.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism was asked to step up management of artists on TikTok and monitor the platform’s compliance with Vietnam’s copyright laws.

The Ministry of Public Security was asked to work with TikTok on storing data about Vietnamese users in Vietnam and monitor the platform’s deployment of the task.

Nguyen Lam Thanh, head of public policy for TikTok Vietnam, said the platform would cooperate with authorities in fixing the violations.

Tiktok Shop surpassed Lazada in Q2/2023 to become the second biggest e-commerce platform in Vietnam after Shopee, according to local e-commerce analyst Metric.vn.

The market share of Tiktok Shop, a new player that entered the market in April 2022, rose from 15.5% in Q1/2023 to 20% in Q2/2023, while that of Lazada fell from 19.1% to 16%. Shopee retained its leading position with a market share of 63.1%.

Overall, the e-commerce sector’s total revenue grew 46% year-on-year to VND92.75 trillion ($3.92 billion) in the first half of 2023. In the same period, 394,425 shops sold 907 million products, not including gifts and fake orders.