Facebook is accused of violating Vietnamese laws

(Source: Internet)

 Hanoi (VNA) - Facebook is having a strong influence on the world and network users in Vietnam are not outside that tendency. More than a decade officially entering Vietnam with more than 58 million users, this social network has been causing the authorities to resent the law violations that are happening every day.

Deparment of Radio, Television and Electronic Information (Ministry of Information and Communications) said that following the direction of the Minister of Information and Communications, the department has reviewed and discovered that Facebook is violating Vietnamese laws in three major areas:  information content management; illegal online advertising and tax liability in Vietnam.

Slander on individuals and organisations

Specifically, Facebook has not response well  to the removal of Fanpages which  contains provoking activities against the State ask asked by the authorities.

Currently, Facebook is allowing a lot of personal accounts, Fanpage,groups which have many posts with slanderous content, anti-government, defamation of individuals, organizations and state agencies. Many reactionary organisations have taken advantage of Facebook social network to carry out political defamation purposes.

Those contents have seriously violated the Law on Vietnam Network Security, Decree 72/2013 of the Government and Circular 38 of the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The management agencies have sent official letters, emails asking Facebook to remove distorted and misleading contents. However, the world’s largest social network has delayed the removal of those contents.

Facebook does not provide fraudulent accounts, violating Vietnamese laws to serve the investigation of security agencies

Allowing illegal advertising

In addition, Facebook is allowing the promotion of illegal products in Vietnam such as counterfeit money, counterfeit goods, weapons, and artillery, among others without any censorship.

It is not difficult to see advertisements for counterfeit goods, gambling, or even prostitution on each user's Facebook page in Vietnam. But the world’s biggest social network is “neglecting” and almost indirectly abetting these types of illegal advertising.

In particular, a new violation which has appeared in recent years that Facebook allows users to freely buy free advertising without censoring content. Many people can buy advertisements on Facebook with disseminate false information, defamation contents.

Facebook allows illegal advertising (Photo:VNA)

The most dangerous thing is that Facebook will become the most powerful "weapon" when it is able to classify the targeted audience in the most possible accurate and detailed way.

A new term called "Political Advertising" comes from this social network which has a huge users database . According to the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information, political advertising is a huge threat.  In important events  of Vietnam such as Party Congress and Party Central Committee Conference, ... there are many types of advertisements which have distorted contents.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has sent a document to the State Bank of Vietnam requesting to jointly review and take measures to prevent payment activities for illegal products and services for cross-border platform including Facebook.

Tax evasion

According to forecast from ANTS market research company, spending on online advertising in Vietnam was estimated at 550 million USD in 2018,  in which Facebook advertising spending accounted for 235 million USD, and Google advertising spending reached 152.1 million USD. Thus, Google and Facebook alone accounted for 66.7% of Vietnam's advertising market share in 2018. However they have not carried out any tax responsibilities in Vietnam

According to preliminary statistics, there are 8 telecom enterprises allow Facebook to connect directly and put about 900 servers in Vietnam, however Facebook does not have any representative office in Vietnam.

To rectify,the management unit will have many ways to deal with Facebook's violations in Vietnam.

Accordingly, authorities will continue to gather evidence of infringement and require Facebook to comply Vietnamese laws. Facebook is also requested to obey additional commitments to comply with Vietnamese laws in the Agreement between Service Providers and Facebook.

In addition, Facebook will be requested to coordinate with relevant agencies to manage payment and taxation activities for commercial and advertising transactions in Vietnam. If Facebook does not have positive moves, Vietnamese regulators will apply necessary economic and technical measures to ensure a  healthy network environment.-VNA