Vietnam regulators to inspect TikTok over ‘toxic’ content

By Van Minh
Thu, April 6, 2023 | 12:08 pm GMT+7

Government agencies in Vietnam will make an inspection of social media platform TikTok next month to crack down on harmful content and false information.

Officials from the Ministries of Information and Communications and Industry and Trade, and the General Department of Taxation would meet with the Vietnam management of TikTok.

A streamer in Vietnam who has been fined by authorities for providing false information via social media platforms. Photo courtesy of Vietnam’s People’s Police newspaper.

A streamer in Vietnam who has been fined by authorities for providing false information via social media platforms. Photo courtesy of Vietnam’s People’s Police newspaper.

Le Quang Tu Do, head of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information under the Ministry of Information and Communications, said Tuesday that recently a lot of toxic, offensive, false and superstitious content has been appearing on the app in Vietnam.

TikTok’s algorithm even makes the toxic content spread faster, he stressed, adding that his ministry issued warnings to TikTok in February and instructed it on how to make changes but no effective measures have been taken by the platform.

Therefore, the inspection set for May will ensure that TikTok would comply with Vietnamese regulations, in both content and operations.

TikTok was launched in Vietnam in 2019 after a year of beta testing. It gained many more users in 2021 during the pandemic period and now has nearly 50 million Vietnamese users aged 18 and above. The amount is equal to half of the Vietnamese population.

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