Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung signed Directive No. 38 on behalf of Prime Minister Le Minh Hung, calling for tougher measures against intellectual property violations and illegal digital content platforms.
Under the order, authorities have been instructed to carry out nationwide enforcement measures from May 7 to May 30, targeting copyright infringement with a “strict approach with no exceptions”.
Several well-known piracy sites, including Phim4k and Thiaphim, have since gone offline. Phim4k displayed a notice saying it had officially ceased operations from May 6 “in order to strictly comply with Vietnamese law”.
Thiaphim showed a “Service unavailable” message, saying it had shut down at the request of authorities, while also advertising the sale of its source code.
Several piracy platforms went offline shortly after the directive was issued.
Online copyright infringement has long been a problem in Vietnam, where blocked domains are often quickly replaced by mirror or alternative sites.
However, the latest campaign goes beyond simply blocking access to websites. Authorities are now directly targeting operators behind high-traffic piracy platforms, particularly those distributing films, music, mobile games and television programmes in Vietnamese and foreign languages.
According to a report by Media Partners Asia, online piracy in Vietnam caused estimated losses of USD 348 million in 2022, a figure projected to rise to USD 456 million by 2027.
Users accessing pirate websites also face risks from malware, viruses and illegal gambling advertisements commonly embedded on such platforms.
