HCMC – Vietnam has introduced new regulations requiring social media platforms to obtain licenses for live sales and revenue-generating activities.
According to Decree 147/2024/ND-CP, effective from December 24, licenses for such activities will be valid for up to five years. Platforms must also submit monthly user traffic reports to the Ministry of Information and Communications and display identification codes linked to data of the licensing agency.
For news aggregators, the regulations prohibit reposting articles within one hour from the time they first appear online, using names resembling licensed news outlets, enabling user comments, and identifying their staff as journalists.
These sites are required to source content from at least three media outlets and can only produce content in certain fields if linked to online newspapers.
Social media users will bear responsibility for the content they share and must comply with tax and business regulations. Channel owners are required to remove harmful or illegal content within 24 to 48 hours.
Livestream content is explicitly barred from resembling investigative journalism or news reporting, ensuring it aligns with social media guidelines.