Vietnam's draft decree would require major social media accounts to provide contact information

The requirement is included in a draft decree amending and supplementing several provisions of Decree No. 147/2024/ND-CP on the management, provision and use of internet services and online information.

Under the proposed rule, owners of accounts and content channels, owners of community pages, and administrators of community groups on social media — collectively referred to as account, channel, page or group owners — would be required to notify the relevant state authority in writing if the combined number of followers or members across all accounts, content channels, community pages and community groups they manage reaches one million or more.

The notification would have to provide contact information using a form issued with the decree.

The notice could be submitted directly or by postal service to the relevant state authority overseeing electronic information, or through other methods permitted by law.

The authority would be responsible for receiving the notices from account, channel, page, and group owners.

The draft also proposes new requirements for social media service providers with a large number of users in Vietnam.

Under the proposed amendments, organizations and businesses providing social media services that regularly receive at least one million visits from Vietnam per month — calculated based on average statistics over six consecutive months — would have to meet two requirements.

First, they would have to disable posting, commenting, sharing, and reaction features for user accounts belonging to children under 13.

Second, they could enable posting, commenting, sharing, and reaction features for users aged 13 to under 16 only if they provide technical tools or solutions allowing parents or guardians to monitor the content those children post and access, control their friend lists, and monitor the amount of time they spend on the social network.