Vietnam wants a healthy Internet society
Hanoi (VNA) - The Ministry of Information and Communication has urged enterprises to collaborate with the Government in efforts to build a healthy Internet society through advertising only on online channels which comply with established laws.
Minister Truong Minh Tuan issued the advice at a meeting on March 16 with major brands, saying that online advertising is an inevitable trend but also implies risks, especially when inadequate attention is paid to control the appearance of advertising.
The call
came several days after advertisements by some major brands accidentally
appeared in clips containing pornographic, slanderous or anti-government
content on YouTube, the world’s largest online video site.
“It is
really worrying, as it badly affects the prestige of brands,” the minister was quoted
as saying by online newspaper vnexpress.net.
Tuan said
that it is not only a problem for the advertising industry of Vietnam, but also
for the global industry.
What is
more alarming is that running advertisements on clips with questionable content
could help owners of those accounts earn money, which indirectly encourages
them to upload more, a representative from Qnet said.
Nguyen
Thanh Lam, Director of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic
Information, cited statistics that as of March 16, there were 15 accounts
uploading 8,000 clips with immoral content, and attracting nearly 1 million
subscribers. Those clips boasted a combined 500 million views.
Lam said
that the department is working with Google, which owns YouTube, to remove such
clips, and to date, only 42 have been removed.
At the
March 16 meeting, all major brands including Vinamilk, Ford Vietnam, VinHome,
Sungroup and Unilever Vietnam, said that they had stopped advertising on
YouTube after receiving the Ministry of Information and Communication’s
request.
They also
said that they will not resume advertising until ad agencies develop
comprehensive solutions to ensure compliance with the established laws.
“Through
our advertising agents, we have asked Google and YouTube to ensure a safe advertising
environment so as to protect businesses’ brands,” a representative from the
dairy giant Vinamilk said.
Ad
agencies said that when signing contracts with Google to run advertisements for
their partners on YouTube, they selected the appearance of ads through key
words and categories of clips, adding that the cooperation of Google is
necessary in filtering and preventing the appearance of ads in toxic clips.
Online
newspaper vneconomy.vn reported that Google has sent an official
response late on March 16, saying that YouTube has clear policies for
governmental requests for content removal.
A YouTube
spokesperson also said that the company does not comment on specific cases, but
it will continue working with the Government of Vietnam and is always willing
to receive questions or concerns from the Government, according to the
newspaper.
The
ministry called on enterprises to participate in an action programme which
includes saying no to advertising on immoral clips, only running advertisements
on channels which comply with Vietnamese law, building a healthy Internet
society and protecting copyright. - VNA