Science and expertise ministry accuses messaging app of not cooperating in combating alleged crimes dedicated by customers in Vietnam.
Vietnam has ordered the nation’s telecommunication service suppliers to dam the messaging app Telegram for not cooperating in combating alleged crimes dedicated by customers of the platform, in a transfer that Telegram stated was shocking.
A report on the federal government’s information portal on Friday stated Vietnam’s telecommunications division on the Ministry of Science and Know-how despatched letters to web service suppliers warning that there have been “indicators of legislation violation” on Telegram.
The ministry stated web service suppliers ought to “deploy options and measures to stop Telegram’s actions in Vietnam”.
The letter dated Might 21 ordered the suppliers to take measures in opposition to Telegram and report again to the ministry by June 2.
Virtually 70 % of 9,600 channels on Telegram in Vietnam comprise “toxic and dangerous info”, the federal government stated in its report on the app, quoting police. Teams and associations on Telegram, involving tens of 1000’s of individuals, had disseminated “antistate paperwork” and have been concerned in “reactionary actions”, the federal government added.
The federal government additionally claimed that some teams on Telegram additionally used the app to promote customers’ information, and have been concerned in drug trafficking or had “terrorist” hyperlinks.
Vietnam’s hardline administration usually strikes swiftly to stamp out dissent and arrest critics, particularly those that discover an viewers on social media.
New guidelines got here into drive in Vietnam final 12 months that required platforms reminiscent of Fb and TikTok to confirm person identities and hand over information to authorities, in what critics described as the newest assault on freedom of expression within the communist-ruled nation.
In a press release to the Reuters information company, a consultant of Telegram stated the corporate was “stunned” by the Vietnamese authorities’s transfer.
“We’ve got responded to authorized requests from Vietnam on time. The deadline for the response is Might 27, and we’re processing the request,” the Telegram consultant stated.
An official at Vietnam’s Science and Know-how Ministry instructed the Reuters information company that the choice adopted Telegram’s failure to share person information with the federal government as a part of felony investigations.
Telegram was nonetheless out there in Vietnam as of Friday.
Based on the Knowledge Report web site, there have been 79.8 million people utilizing the web in Vietnam in the beginning of 2025, and in accordance with the information extraction firm SOAX, there have been 11.8 million Telegram customers.
With shut to at least one billion customers worldwide, Telegram has been concerned in controversies internationally associated to safety and information breach issues.
Telegram’s Russian-born founder and chief government, Pavel Durov, was detained at a Paris airport and later charged with a number of counts of failing to curb extremist and “terrorist” content material on the app. He reportedly stays in France and is unable to depart with out authorisation from authorities.
