Fines Up to 20 Million VND for Sharing Links with Prohibited Content

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To be specific, according to this Decree, anyone who uses social networks to provide or share links to information online that contains prohibited content will be fined from 10,000,000 VND to 20,000,000 VND, and will be required to remove the shared information from the social network.

The above-mentioned fine also applies to violations such as: Providing or sharing fake information, false information, distorting, slandering, offending the reputation of agencies, organizations, honor, and dignity of individuals; Providing or sharing information that promotes superstitions, depravity, obscenity, inappropriate customs and traditions; Providing or sharing fabricated information that causes public panic, incites violence, crime, social vices, gambling or aids gambling; …

Furthermore, this Decree also stipulates that organizations or enterprises that set up social networks and commit any of the following acts will be fined from 50,000,000 VND to 70,000,000 VND:

- Proactively storing or transmitting fake information, false information, distorting, slandering, offending the reputation of agencies, organizations, honor, and dignity of individuals;

- Proactively providing information that promotes superstitions, depravity, obscenity, inappropriate customs, and traditions;

- Proactively providing information that graphically describes acts of murder, accidents, horror, and gruesome events;

- Proactively storing or transmitting fabricated information that causes public panic, incites violence, crime, social vices, gambling or aids gambling;

- Proactively storing or transmitting information that is not in line with national interests;

- Proactively posting, broadcasting, or using images of the Vietnamese map that do not correctly depict national sovereignty;

- Proactively posting or broadcasting journalistic works, literary works, artistic works, and publications without the consent of intellectual property rights holders or without circulation permission or which have been banned or confiscated;

- Proactively advertising, propagating, sharing information about prohibited goods and services;

- Not implementing measures to prevent or remove violating information as per legal regulations.

In addition to the fine, organizations or enterprises committing the above-mentioned acts may also face supplementary penalties and remedial measures such as: Confiscation of violating materials and means; revocation of social network establishment license for 8 to 12 months; compulsory removal of false or misleading information or information that violates the law; compulsory recall of domain names.

Therefore, it can be seen that for the same violation, if it is committed by a social network user, the fine will be 10-20 million VND, but if it is an organization or enterprise that sets up the social network and either proactively commits the violation or fails to prevent or remove the violating information as per regulations, the fine will be significantly higher, specifically from 50-70 million VND.

Nguyen Trinh

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