The Ministry of Information and Communications has closely coordinated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to prevent illegal trading of goods online.

In recent times, the Ministry of Information and Communications has closely coordinated with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to prevent illegal online trading of goods, especially on foreign platforms supplying goods across borders to Vietnam. In order to rectify false advertising content and information; strictly manage online trading, avoid taking advantage of trading on social networks, false advertising, and selling poor quality goods, the Ministry of Information and Communications has implemented the following solutions:

Closely coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to control online sales activities, especially cross-border social networking platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok. The goal is to prevent the sale of poor quality goods and false advertising through these platforms.

Conduct a review and handle advertising content that violates the law, especially focusing on false advertising about products and services. When the violator is identified, the Ministry will impose administrative sanctions. In cases where the identity cannot be determined, the Ministry will request cross-border platforms to remove the content or block the violating domain name or website.

Requiring social media platforms to remove infringing content: The Ministry has requested social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to immediately remove harmful content and false advertising. The Ministry also requires platforms to apply AI technology to quickly detect and handle violations.

Direct the Department of Information and Communications of provinces/cities to coordinate with relevant agencies to strengthen the screening, tracing and handling of violators, especially artists and celebrities participating in false advertising.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has submitted to the Government for promulgation Decree No. 147/2024/ND-CP on the management, provision and use of Internet services and online information (The Decree replaces Decree No. 72/2013/ND-CP and Decree No. 27/2018/ND-CP).

Coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to review and strictly handle cases where artists and celebrities take advantage of their influence, trust and love of the people to spread fake news or advertise products, goods and services with incorrect uses and features, causing negative impacts on the lives, activities and interests of the people.

Coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in drafting the Law amending and supplementing the Law on Advertising, focusing on adding the following provisions: Adding new provisions on online advertising; Amending and supplementing provisions related to the responsibility for state management of advertising activities to clearly define the responsibility for state management of this activity of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Information and Communications, while also promoting and strengthening the role and responsibility of localities; Amending and supplementing provisions on the obligations of advertisers, advertising service providers, advertising publishers, and advertising product transmitters to suit current reality and development trends. In particular, advising on adding provisions on administrative sanctions for cross-border platforms to create a legal basis for this management measure.

Coordinate with the Ministry of Health to assess, review, detect and handle violations in advertising functional foods, traditional oriental medicine and medical products in general.

Require ministries, sectors and localities to join in managing cyberspace: Whoever manages a field in real life must also manage that field in cyberspace.

Build a Blacklist - Whitelist to recommend advertising agencies and major brands to prioritize advertising on pages and channels with clean, positive content (white list), not to advertise on pages and channels that violate the law, thereby gradually directing advertising money to clean, licensed and controlled content.

However, the management of cross-border social networking platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok faces many difficulties because these platforms are not headquartered in Vietnam; Cross-border social networking platforms have not fully complied with the provisions of Vietnamese law and have been slow to respond in removing violating content; Ministries and sectors have not proactively reviewed and detected illegal advertising content on the network environment in the areas under their management; False advertising behaviors are increasingly sophisticated; Detecting and handling violations requires high human resources and technology, while the management team is still small and the current technical system has not been invested in and upgraded appropriately.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Information and Communications will continue to coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to complete the Advertising Law, supplementing regulations to strictly manage online advertising activities, especially cross-border platforms.

Along with that, the Ministry will maintain the rate of removing violating content on social networking platforms at over 92%, while forcing cross-border platforms to strictly comply with Vietnamese laws.

Continue to direct advertising dollars to mainstream platforms through the White List, ensuring advertising is done on licensed and regulated platforms.

The Ministry of Information and Communications will continue to invest in technology and improve monitoring capacity, while organizing specialized training programs for management staff to ensure timely handling of violations.

Through inter-sectoral coordination efforts, the Ministry of Information and Communications is gradually building a healthy network environment, limiting the use of social networks for trading and false advertising. Despite many challenges, with the determination and synchronization of functional agencies, Vietnam will be closer and closer to the goal of a safe and trustworthy cyberspace./.