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Aug 16, 2019 / 17:05

Vietnam social networks have content filter: Minister

In the past, over 30% of contents in social platforms in Vietnam were objectionable, now the number is reduced to below 10%.

Vietnamese social network have content filtering tools integrated in the platforms which block the access to 95% of objectionable contents, Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said at the interpellation session of the Vietnamese National Assembly Permanent Committee on August 15.

Hung stressed that without a national social network, all contents generated by Vietnamese users would be stored in foreign network.
 
Illustrative photo
Illustrative photo

"This implies danger to national security," Hung said.

He added that the ministry is working on building domestic social networks with the number of users expected to be equivalent to that of foreign ones. Currently, Vietnam social networks have about 65 million accounts while foreign social platforms have a total of 90 million. 

"With the current growth rate, by 2020 or 2021, Vietnam will achieve the goal of equaling Vietnamese and foreign social platforms in terms of users," Hung said.

The minister noted that there are still many opportunities for technology companies to develop social networks in Vietnam in accordance with new approaches and which share benefits with participants.

Vietnam MIC has built and put into operation the National Cyber ​​Space Managing Center which can continuously screen about 100 million Vietnamese language contents created and posted every day, timely detect hot trends and assess inappropriate content, Hung added.

He stressed that the ministry also trying to ensure foreign social networks compliance with Vietnamese laws when they do not have a representative office in Vietnam and pay no taxes. The results have been quite positive so far as Facebook has abode by 70% to 75% of MIC’s rulings while YouTube has complied with 80% to 85%.

"In the past, over 30% of contents in social platforms were objectionable, now the number is reduced to below 10%," the minister said.