Vietnam’s sweeping content moderation law, Decree 147/2024, is reshaping the digital playing field in ways that heavily disadvantage US tech giants, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) has said in a statement.
The Decree, which came into effect at the end of last year, mandated local data storage, user verification, and provides authorities with access to proprietary search algorithms, the statement says. This forces platforms to divert resources from innovation to compliance.
Other key points include:
- Companies must invest in local infrastructure, compliance teams, and identity verification systems.
- Facebook (65 million users) and YouTube face the heaviest regulatory burden.
- Vietnamese authorities are granted access to internal search functions, exposing proprietary algorithms.
- Facebook and Google earned nearly US$1 billion and US$475 million respectively in Vietnam (2018 figures).
- Domestic and Chinese platforms enjoy an edge as they: operate below regulatory thresholds, receive state backing, and face fewer compliance costs.
- U.S. firms must manage fragmented compliance frameworks across markets, undermining global operational efficiency.
Vietnam’s regulatory regime around online content has been a point of contention in trade talks between Vietnam and the US, listed as a one of many non-tariff barriers in the USTR’s most recent National Trade Estimates report.
Notably, these talks are on a July 9 deadline at which point Trump’s 46 percent “reciprocal tariffs” are set to be reinstated in lieu of a trade agreement. In this context, this statement from the ITIF is timely.
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