Tech platforms cannot escape responsibility for harmful content targeting children in Vietnam

Over the past few years, social media platforms have faced criticism for allowing harmful content involving children to spread unchecked across their networks.

From school violence and dangerous challenges to cyberbullying, inappropriate live streams, and disguised sexual content, the digital environment has increasingly exposed minors to serious risks.

Yet after every scandal that sparks public outrage, the response follows a familiar pattern: apologies, promises to tighten moderation, and commitments to build safer online communities.

However, only a short time later, everything is almost back to the way it was before.

The issue is not that tech companies fail to understand the damage being done, but the consequences they face remain too minor compared with the enormous profits generated by user engagement.

Corporations only meaningfully alter their behavior when the cost of inaction becomes substantial – whether through financial penalties, reputational damage, loss of market share or clear legal liability.

In recent years, Europe has demonstrated a different approach.

Regulators there have moved beyond simply issuing fines, introducing rules that require platforms to be more transparent about recommendation algorithms, strengthen mechanisms for detecting and removing harmful content aimed at minors, and accept responsibility when violations persist over time.

This approach stems from a clear principle: the greater the influence technology has on society, the greater the legal and social responsibility it must bear.

Responsibility for children’s online safety has long been pushed primarily onto families.

Calls urging parents to ‘manage children more carefully’ are not wrong, but they are far from sufficient.

In reality, busy parents cannot possibly monitor everything their children encounter on smartphones and social media.

Teachers responsible for dozens of students cannot realistically oversee every aspect of their students’ digital lives.

Meanwhile, tech companies operate sophisticated systems powered by behavioral experts, data analysts, and artificial intelligence engineers whose primary objective is to keep users engaged for as long as possible.

These algorithms understand children’s habits faster and more deeply than many adults understand their own children.

Asking parents alone to protect children online while failing to impose obligations on social media platforms is akin to asking citizens to fight a flood while leaving the dam uncontrolled upstream.

Modern social media platforms are intentionally designed to retain attention through emotional stimulation, curiosity, and instant reactions.

For children and teenagers, whose judgment and self-control are still developing, distinguishing right from wrong in such an environment is extraordinarily difficult.

Children are among the most vulnerable users in digital spaces.

They are more easily drawn to highly stimulating content and more likely to become emotionally dependent on likes, comments, and online validation.

What makes the problem even more troubling is that the effects often emerge quietly.

A child may continue to perform well academically and appear cheerful, while internally becoming more withdrawn, anxious, and increasingly reliant on the virtual world for a sense of recognition.

If this trend continues, society risks raising a generation that is permanently connected yet profoundly lonely – a generation that struggles to focus on real life because it has become conditioned to the constant stimulation of digital platforms.

More dangerously, this dependence may gradually erode empathy, patience, and genuine human connection.

Therefore, protecting children online cannot remain solely the responsibility of parents.

It must be shared among families, schools, regulators and, most importantly, tech companies themselves.

A safe digital environment does not emerge on its own.

It exists only when laws are strong enough, tech firms act responsibly and society treats the protection of children online as a serious priority.

A civilized society should not let children navigate the ‘forest of algorithms’ alone.

* This article was originally written in Vietnamese by Vu Thi Minh Huyen.