Vietnam to ban Telegram over alleged violations

Telecom companies have to report their plans and outcomes to the authority by June 2, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

The authority received a document from the Department of Cyber Security and Hi-tech Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security seeking coordination to block Telegram's operations in Vietnam.

According to police, up to 68 percent of the 9,600 channels and groups on Telegram in Vietnam were deemed malicious.

Many groups, with tens of thousands of participants, were allegedly created by anti-government and subversive individuals to spread materials against the state, facilitate scams, and sell user data and drugs.

The groups are suspected to be involved in terrorism.

Cross-border service providers like Telegram are required to comply with Vietnamese laws, notify regulatory bodies of contact information, monitor and remove illegal content or services upon request from authorities.

If foreign organizations or individuals provide information that violates Vietnamese regulations and fail to cooperate with authorities in implementing technical measures to prevent the misuse of the Internet that threatens national security, public order, morality, traditional customs, and the law, action must be taken.

Pursuant to telecommunications regulations effective from January 1, 2025, companies providing basic Internet telecommunications services must complete notification procedures before offering services.

Telegram has failed to comply with this requirement.

Telegram Messenger is a free, cross-platform, encrypted instant messaging service. 

It also offers end-to-end encrypted chats, known as secret chats, video calling, VoIP, file sharing, and other features.

Telegram was first released for iOS on August 14, 2013, and for Android on October 20, 2013.

As of early 2024, Telegram had attracted over 900 million monthly active users, ranking among the top five most downloaded apps globally.

According to Statista, Vietnam was among the top 10 markets favoring the app, with 12 million downloads in 2022.

Digital Report statistics in early 2023 indicated that 31.5 percent of Vietnamese Internet users aged 16-64 used Telegram.