Vietnam Will Require Social Media Users To Verify Identity

JAKARTA - Vietnam is preparing to make identity verification mandatory for social media users, both local and foreign platforms, to tackle online fraud. This was revealed from a state media report on Monday, May 8.

This action is part of a Telecommunications Law Amendment to be published later this year, which will allow law enforcement agencies to track down perpetrators who use social media to violate the law, the state-owned newspaper Voice of Vietnam (VOV) reported.

"Sometimes the authorities can identify owners of social media accounts who violate the law but cannot track them because criminals use cross-border applications," Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam said, as quoted by VOV.

"Unverified accounts, both on local and foreign platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, will be handled," added Nguyen Thanh Lam.

According to the report, both individual and organizational users will comply with the action. However, not all providers currently offer identity verification in Vietnam.

This regulation will require approval from legislators in the country. More details have not been disclosed.

Vietnam has in recent years issued several regulations along with cybersecurity laws targeting foreign social media platforms to combat disinformation in news and force foreign technology companies to open representative offices in Vietnam and store data in the country.