Vietnam: Defaming others on Facebook shall be punished with up to 2 years in prison

According to Vietnam’s current regulations, for acts of insulting or defaming others on social networks, depending on the severity, they will be handled administratively or criminally.

Firstly, administrative sanction:

According to Point g Clause 3 Article 66 of Decree No. 174/2013/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government providing for penalties for administrative violations against regulations on post and telecommunications, information technology and radio frequency, acts of defaming others on social networks shall be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000.

Article 66. Violations against regulations on information retention, leasing, transmission, provision, access, collection, processing, exchange and utilization

3. A fine ranging from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed for any of the following violations:

…

g) Providing, exchanging, transmitting or storing and using digital information to threaten, disturb, distort, slander or hurt the prestige of other entities, or the honor, prestige and dignity of other individuals;

…

Secondly, criminal sanction:

Serious acts of defaming others can be prosecuted for criminal liability in the crime of Insults to another person as prescribed in Article 155 of the Criminal Code 2015 of Vietnam. In the case of using a computer network or telecommunications network or electronic means to defame others, it will be a violation of Point e, Clause 2, Article 155 with a penalty of up to 2 years in prison.

Thus, depending on the severity of the act, people who post messages defaming others on social networks can be subject to administrative or criminal penalties of up to 2 years in prison.

Thanh Lam

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