Mandatory social media user identity verification is being pushed in Vietnam

The Vietnamese government is preparing to require its users of social media platforms—including Facebook and TikTok—verify their identities to combat online scams and cybercrime.

The Ministry of Information’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information will amend the Telecommunications Law later this year, making it mandatory for individuals and groups to confirm their identities when registering a social media account.

“There are times the authorities can identify social media account holders that violate the laws but cannot track them down because those criminals use cross-border applications,” said Deputy Information Minister Nguyen Thanh Lam according to Reuters.

“Unverified accounts, no matter on local or foreign platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, will be dealt with.”

The move effectively strips users from disseminating criticisms of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) anonymously.

In Vietnam, it is said to implement a broad category of “criminal activities” that criminalizes the production and spreading of ‘anti-state propaganda’ and even fair criticisms against the CPV ruling.

The country has one of the largest national social media user bases in the world. While Vietnamese reformers, dissidents, human rights defenders, and other freethinkers utilize these tools as means of communication and potential political mobilization, the CPV authorities are taking action to keep in control.

To regulate the flow of information online and bring major foreign tech firms under state control, Vietnam passed a cybersecurity law in 2018.

The law requires Facebook and Google to take down posts deemed to be threats to national security within 24 hours of receiving a government request, and foreign tech firms must establish representative offices in Vietnam and store users’ data locally.

The new rule will also limit which social media accounts can post news-related content.

Furthermore, Vietnam’s Ministry of Information announced a ‘comprehensive’ probe into TikTok, which is popular among the young and challenges Facebook as the country’s preferred social media network.

The investigation, set to be conducted in the second half of May, will cover content distribution, taxation, e-commerce, and advertising on the platform.

The government’s crackdown on TikTok is partially due to the fact that it is owned by a Chinese firm.