This adds to an emerging narrative that the Government of Vietnam is shifting back toward a more interventionist and authoritarian approach to social and economic management.
The Government of Vietnam will impose fines of VND 30-50 million (US$1,139-1,897) from July 1 for social media users who share false information that causes public panic or disrupts socio-economic activity, local media has reported.
This is up from VND 20-30 million (US$759-1,139) in the past.
This latest change comes as part of Decree 174/2026/ND-CP, which was issued May 15 of this year, with these fines to apply for sharing content deemed to distort history, undermine national unity, insult religions, discriminate by gender or race, or disclose state and personal secrets.
It also details lower fines of VND 20-30 million (US$759-1,139) that apply to fabricated, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise prohibited content, including unauthorised copyrighted material and misleading maps of Vietnam.
This is problematic for a number of reasons, but to choose just one, the idea that creating public panic might be penalised is likely to see content creators self-censor.
This threatens to see important information delayed as content creators weigh the risks of posting content online, or not disseminated at all, should they decide the risk is not worth it.
Moreover, it’s not clear what constitutes public panic.
Does this mean the bank run on Saigon Commercial Bank back in 2022?
Does it mean the outrage that followed the water poisoning that led to the Formosa fish kill in 2016?
Or what about hoarding petrol amid fuel shortages in 2022?
Add to that reports earlier this year that the Vietnam Communist Party is working toward expanding its own propaganda efforts and that these efforts could be directed toward shoring up stock market sentiment — authorities are aiming for a figure of 80 percent of all Vietnamese language news to be positive by 2030 — and a clear risk emerges to an informed public.
That aside, even if truth might theoretically be a defence, truth in Vietnam tends to be flexible.
For example, the apartment fire in Hanoi in 2023 was first reported to have been caused by an electric bike. Days later, however, local news articles were changed with the word ‘electric’ replaced by ‘gasoline’ in many cases without explanation.
Vingroup, Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate by market capitalisation, has also repeatedly referred social commentators to the police for disseminating false news, which by non-Vietnamese standards would be considered speculation or opinion — not illegal.
Big picture, this is in line with a smattering of moves to try to weed out dissent online
Notably, in December, Le Trung Khoa, founder of Germany-based outlet thoibao.de, was sentenced, in absentia, to 17 years in prison for content said to be against state interests, alongside two contributors given sentences of seven years and six-and-a-half years.
And all of this is important, in that, bigger picture, it adds to an emerging narrative that the Government of Vietnam is shifting back toward a more interventionist and authoritarian approach to social and economic management.