The proposal was made after an inspection team from the ministry announced the results of an investigation into the operation of TikTok in the country at a press conference held on October 5.
Speaking at the conference, head of the ministry's Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, Le Quang Tu Do, revealed that TikTok’s violations in Vietnam were associated with its provision of social networking and e-commerce services, as well as child protection in the country.
Among the violations, TikTok has stored law-breaching information on CDN servers in Vietnam, including fake and distorted information that incites violence and social evils, or information that is harmful to children. It has yet to produce an effective content censorship process, making it easier for illegal content to spread quickly through user interactions.
The social networking platform has yet to adopt measures or tools to ensure the safety of children’s confidential information and private lives. It has still allowed children under 13 to open accounts even though it is only for people 13 years of age and older.
The inspection team also found TikTok’s violations regarding user rights, intellectual copyright, and management of e-commerce services.
The inspection team made several proposals to both TikTok and Vietnamese government authorities to resolve the issues.
The team urged TikTok to install age warnings for videos on the platform. They also recommended TikTok build a separate app for children.
Notably, the inspection team said that TikTok Singapore, not TikTok’s two legal entities in Vietnam – TikTok Office in HCM City and TikTok Technologies Vietnam Company Limited – were responsible for the issues. The two Vietnam-based entities were not directly engaged in the management and provision of cross-border services in Vietnam through TikTok.com and the TikTok application.
Speaking at the meeting, the head of public policy of TikTok Vietnam, Nguyen Lam Thanh, said that they would coordinate closely with relevant ministries and agencies to properly follow the suggestions of the ministry.
Thanh emphasised that TikTok would abide by the provisions of Vietnamese law when operating in the country. He said the social media platform had complied with many of the requests, and it would take time to respond to the remainder.
“TikTok will work to comply with the inspection team’s requests,” said the TikTok Vietnam representative.
In May Vietnamese authorities began conducting a thorough inspection of TikTok’s operations in Vietnam regarding concerns that the social networking platform spread content that had negative consequences.
The inspection team made up of members of several relevant ministries and agencies originally planned to announce the results of the inspection in July but later delayed the plan, saying the social networking platform had yet to fully clarify its violations.
