Vietnam authorities have instructed local telecoms and Internet service providers to block the Telegram messaging app in the country for allegedly failing to prevent illegal content and anti-government activities being carried out by its users.
The majority of Telegram groups in Vietnam contain what the regulator called "toxic” information, including groups accused of spreading anti-government content and crimes such as fraud, selling user data and drug trafficking, according to a statement on the government’s website, citing public security ministry data.
Telegram must comply with Vietnamese regulations including monitoring, removing and preventing content violating the law as requested by the authority, the statement said. The messaging app is also accused of failing to register its telecommunication services business with the Vietnamese authorities as required by law, according to the statement.
"Telegram is surprised by these statements,” Telegram spokesperson Devon Spurgeon said. "We received a formal notice from the Authority of Communications regarding a standard service notification procedure required under new telecoms regulations. The deadline for the response is May 27,” she added.
Vietnam’s technology ministry and telecoms authority did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Last year, Vietnam ordered foreign social media platforms to verify the accounts of users and provide their identifies to authorities on demand, a move to tighten the Communist government’s control of social networks.
Unlike China, people in Vietnam have access to the world’s most popular social platforms. Vietnam’s one-party government, though, jails citizens who disseminate what is viewed as anti-state or anti-party content.
The former Ministry of Information and Communications had been pushing for more measures to tighten restrictions on what it considers toxic and anti-state information spreading on social media. – Bloomberg
