TikTok Is Stumbled On In Vietnam, Considered A Threat To The Country's Culture And Traditions

TikTok is being investigated in Vietnam. (photo: dock. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The Vietnamese government will investigate TikTok operations in the country from May because the "poisony" content on the short video platform "threatens youth, culture and country traditions", Vietnam's Ministry of Information said on Thursday, April 6.

"Supervising content on popular Chinese company-owned app ByteDance, which features short videos, is much more difficult than on other platforms," ministry representative Le Quang Tu Do told a news conference, without providing further details.

"We will need tighter measures to fight the content, removal alone is not enough," Do said, as quoted by Reuters. Unfortunately he didn't want to explain about the steps.

TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance, has nearly 50 million users in Vietnam aged 18 years and over, according to data from research firm DataReportal quoted by the government.

TikTok has removed 1.7 million videos at the request of the Vietnamese government in the fourth quarter of last year for violating government policies, according to company data.

Asked if TikTok would be banned in the Southeast Asian nation, Do said those who did not comply with local rules would not be accepted.

"TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube are all cross-border social media with international standards. However, when operating in Vietnam, the platform must comply with local regulations on tax content and obligations," Do said in a statement earlier this week. He also added that TikTok recently allowed content to be "poison, offensive, fake, and infectious" on its platform.

TikTok is the only platform under investigation as it is the only platform with a local office, the ministry disclosed.

The company said in February that it had been notified by the Vietnamese Electronic Broadcasting and Information Authority that a government delegation would visit their office in Vietnam in the second quarter.

"This is an interdisciplinary inspection activity planned by the government and in accordance with Vietnamese law for companies operating in Vietnam, not just TikTok," Vietnam's TikTok said in an email to Reuters.

In a statement to Reuters on Thursday, TikTok Vietnam also said it had updated their guidelines, which are expected to be effective from April 21, to become more transparent about their rules and how they run them.