Vietnam Warns TikTok, Social Media Apps Over ‘Toxic’ Content
Vietnam's communications ministry said TikTok isn't doing enough to remove toxic and false content and warned that the government could soon take measures to restrict operations of the popular social media platform and others seen as violating national laws.
Poor management and oversight has led to the spread of “fake news” and “deviant” and “anti-government” content on TikTok, “threatening and corrupting the country's culture and morals,” Le Quang Tu Do, the director of Vietnam's Authority of Broadcasting, Television, and Electronic Information — a part of the ministry — told reporters on Thursday.
Do, who said he's seen similar violations by Meta Platform Inc.'s Facebook and YouTube, cited “weak management” at TikTok that has ultimately led to content that violates intellectual property rights and facilitates illegal business operations.
The comments are the latest by governments around the world looking more closely at the impact of social media. TikTok has been of particular focus in many nations: it's already been banned in India and is under severe scrutiny in the US, where several states have barred its use on government phones because of concerns the app's Chinese owner, ByteDance Ltd., could be required to share its data with Beijing.
The communications ministry plans a “comprehensive” inspection of TikTok's business in Vietnam in May amid rising “toxic” content and fake information on the social media platform, according to a posting on the ministry's website.
Unlike China, people in Vietnam have access to the world's most popular social platforms. The nation's internet, though, is tightly monitored by the communist government, which is stepping up efforts to rid websites of content it objects to.
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