Vietnam to probe TikTok over “poisonous” content material

HANOI, April 6 (Reuters) – (This April 6 tale has been corrected to take away a connection with violations of presidency insurance policies as a explanation why for the video removing, in paragraph)

Vietnam will probe TikTok’s operations within the nation from Might, as “poisonous” content material at the short-video platform “poses a risk to the rustic’s adolescence, tradition and custom”, the Data Ministry stated on Thursday.

Moderating content material on the preferred Chinese language-owned software that carries bite-sized movies was once “way more tricky” than on different platforms, ministry consultant Le Quang Tu Do stated at a information convention, with out offering main points.

“We can want harder measures to fight that content material, removing handiest isn’t sufficient,” Do stated. He didn’t elaborate at the measures.

The app, owned by means of ByteDance, has just about 50 million customers in Vietnam elderly 18 and above, the federal government has stated, bringing up information from analysis corporate DataReportal.

Consistent with corporate information, TikTok got rid of 1.7 million movies within the fourth quarter of final 12 months, which it stated didn’t apply its neighborhood pointers.

Requested if TikTok can be banned within the Southeast Asian nation, Do stated those that didn’t conform to native regulations would now not be welcome.

“TikTok, Fb and YouTube are all cross-border social media with world requirements. But if running in Vietnam, the platform must abide by means of native laws on each content material and tax responsibilities,” Do stated in a remark previous this week, including that TikTok had just lately allowed “poisonous, offensive, false and superstitious” content material on its platform.

TikTok is the one platform being probed as a result of it’s the just one with native places of work, the ministry stated.

The corporate stated in February it was once instructed by means of the Authority of Broadcasting and Digital Data that a central authority delegation would seek advice from its Vietnam places of work in the second one quarter.

“That is an interdisciplinary inspection task deliberate by means of the federal government and in keeping with Vietnam legislation for firms running in Vietnam, now not handiest TikTok,” TikTok Vietnam stated in an electronic mail.

In a remark to Reuters on Thursday, TikTok Vietnam additionally stated it had up to date its pointers, anticipated to take impact from April 21, to be extra clear about its regulations and the way it enforces them.

Reporting by means of Phuong Nguyen; Enhancing by means of Kanupriya Kapoor

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