Vietnam: Livestream insulting others shall be imposed for prison sentence

Facebook is a miniature society, in which, livestream is a useful tool to communicate, help people express their views, share thoughts and feelings as well as transmit information and events to the community. Via livestream, people also have the right to individual freedom and freedom of speech, but sadly, some people are misinterpreting this right, many people equate freedom of speech with illegal acts of insulting, cursing and insulting others.

According to Clause 1 Article 20 of the Constitution 2013 of Vietnam: “Everyone has the right to inviolability of his or her body and to the protection by law of his or her health, honor and dignity; no one shall be subjected to torture, violence, coercion, corporal punishment or any form of treatment harming his or her body and health or offending his or her honor and dignity.”

Concurrently, according to the Civil Code 2015 of Vietnam: “Honor, dignity and prestige of an individual is inviolable and protected by law.”

Regardless of the environment, everyone must obey the law. Thus, the act of cursing and insulting others through livestream on social networks shall be fined up to VND 30 million, or  even handled with criminal prosecure.

Specifically, according to Article 101 of the Decree No. 15/2020/NĐ-CP of Vietnam’s Government on penalties for administrative violations against regulations on postal services, telecommunications, radio frequencies, information technology and electronic transactions:

Article 101. Violations against regulations on responsibility of social networking service users

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

a) Providing/sharing fake or false information with the aims of distorting, slandering or damaging the prestige, honor and dignity of other organizations, authorities or individuals;

…

2. A fine ranging from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for disclosing information classified as state secret, an individual’s privacy or other secrets if not liable to criminal prosecution.

Even if the livestreamer seriously offends the dignity and honor of others, depending on the level of behavior, this person may be prosecuted for criminal responsibility for the crime of “Insults to another person”. Specifically, according to Article 155 of the Criminal Code 2015 (amended in 2017) of Vietnam, depending on the seriousness of the violation, any person who seriously insults another person shall receive a warning, be liable to a fine of VND 10,000,000 - VND 30,000,000 or face a penalty of up to 03 years' community sentence, or even prohibited from holding certain positions, practicing his/her profession or doing certain jobs for 01 - 05 years.

Thus, in order to livestream in a civilized and lawful manner, everyone must first respect others and know how to control their own statements, limiting any unnecessary conflicts from livestream activities. Concurrently, users need to have a minimum understanding of the legal provisions in order not to go over the limit or to understand their rights in cases where their legitimate rights and interests are infringed.

Hai Thanh

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE