Vietnam to investigate TikTok to prevent ‘toxic content’
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, Apr 6 (EFE).- Vietnam will carry out an “exhaustive investigation” of the TikTok video platform to ensure it complies with national regulations on content, taxes and advertising, the government said Thursday.
In a statement posted on its website, the information ministry said strict fines would be imposed on TikTok if violations of the country’s laws are discovered after the investigation scheduled for May.
The measure comes after ministry representative Le Quang Tu Do said in an interview that the platform promotes “toxic content” due to the operation of its algorithm, adding that the explosion of “fraudulent activities” is linked to online commerce via TikTok.
Do said “hostile forces” use the platform to “spread hoaxes and false news against the Communist Party and the state.”
The ministry said TikTok has removed more than 2.43 million videos uploaded by Vietnamese users in the first three months of the year for violating the country’s regulations on nudity, sexual acts with minors, incitement to violence, harassment or suicides, among others.
The Chinese platform entered the Vietnamese market in 2019 after a year of testing and has since accumulated 49.9 million adult users, which places the country as the sixth country in the world with the largest number of TikTok users.
According to Vietnamese law, providers of social media platforms must agree to remove content deemed not to be in compliance with the law and to hand over their users’ data to the communist authorities if required.
These companies, such as Facebook, Microsoft, Netflix or TikTok, are also required to pay taxes in the country to offer their content.
TikTok has paid VND 34 billion ($1.4 million) in the first three months of the year. EFE
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