{
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  "path": "/2026/05/22/vietnam-imposes-up-to-1900-fines-for-spreading-fake-news-on-social-media/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-22T10:02:15.000Z",
  "site": "https://vietnam-aujourdhui.info",
  "tags": [
    "Vietnam News",
    "Journalism",
    "Media",
    "Vietnam",
    "Viet Nam News suspends daily print newspaper after reporter catches COVID-19",
    "Vietnam, where independent media is outlawed, opens press museum",
    "Vietnam jails five journalists for ‘anti-state’ Facebook posts"
  ],
  "textContent": "The Vietnamese government will impose fines of up to VND50 million (US$1,900) on social media users who share fabricated or false information, as part of a new decree aimed at tightening control over digital platforms. The decree details administrative violations, penalty levels, remedial measures, and the authorities empowered to issue sanctions and write up violation reports across postal services, telecommunications, radio frequencies, e-transactions, information technology (IT), and civilian cryptography under cybersecurity management. Who might get punished? Sanctions apply to Vietnamese organizations, business households, and individuals, as well as foreign entities and individuals that commit the stipulated administrative violations. Liable organizations include enterprises, branches, and units in telecom, radio frequency, e-transaction, and IT sectors, as well as agents that provide postal, internet, and online gaming services. Also included are representative offices of foreign postal providers, public telecom and internet access points, operators of public online gaming venues, and mobile content service suppliers. The net also catches broadcasters, public service units, social organizations, professional associations using radio frequencies, foreign non-governmental organizations using radio frequencies, domain-name registrars, operators of new generic top-level domains in Vietnam, information system operators, state agencies acting outside their assigned management functions, electronic signature providers, foreign e-signature authentication services, entities that recognize foreign signatures and certificates, any organization violating rules in the decree’s scope, and firms trading, exporting, or importing civilian cryptographic products and services. Fines for banned content, ads For social media users, the decree mandates fines of VND20-30 million for exploiting platforms for prohibited conduct. That includes supplying or sharing fabricated, false, distorted, or defamatory content that harms the reputation of agencies, organizations, or individuals; promoting social vices, prostitution, or human trafficking; publishing obscene or depraved materials; and disseminating materials that damage national traditions, social ethics, or public health if it stops short of criminal prosecution. The same range covers sharing graphic images of killings, violence, accidents, horror, or disturbing scenes; distributing journalistic, literary, artistic, or published works without the rights holder’s permission or materials banned from circulation; advertising or pushing prohibited goods and services; posting maps of Vietnam that misrepresent national sovereignty; and sharing links to outlawed online content. Additional violations include using social media to produce content to mimic journalistic reports, investigations, or interviews. Press agencies that fail to inform authorities when setting up accounts, pages, channels, or groups on domestic or foreign social platforms, and account owners or administrators who fail to remove unlawful or harmful content, including material affecting children, when ordered by competent agencies. Fines for distorting history, leaking secrets The decree stiffens penalties to VND30-50 million for sharing content that distorts history, denies revolutionary achievements, undermines great national unity, insults religions, or incites gender or racial discrimination, provided no criminal liability is triggered. The same VND30-50 million bracket applies to disclosing state secrets, personal privacy, or other confidential information below the threshold for criminal charges, and spreading false information that causes public panic, damages socio-economic activities, disrupts state agencies or public officials, or infringes on the lawful rights and interests of organizations and individuals. The decree will take effect on July 1, 2026. Vietnam News Agency – May 21, 2026\n\n### Related posts:\n\n  1. Viet Nam News suspends daily print newspaper after reporter catches COVID-19 The editorial board of Viet Nam News, the English-language newspaper of...\n  2. Vietnam, where independent media is outlawed, opens press museum Undeterred by its dismal ranking in media freedom and grim...\n  3. Vietnam jails five journalists for ‘anti-state’ Facebook posts Journalists found guilty of ‘abusing democratic rights and freedoms to...\n\n",
  "title": "Vietnam imposes up to $1,900 fines for spreading fake news on social media"
}