Vietnam to block messaging app Telegram over ‘anti-state’ contents

[ad_1] Up to date Could 23, 2025, 6:00 p.m. ET

Vietnam’s authorities has instructed telecommunications firms to dam the Telegram messaging app after the Ministry of Public Safety concluded it was getting used to disseminate “anti-state” contents, state media reported Friday.

The Telecommunications Division below the Ministry of Science and Know-how issued the order on Wednesday. Telecommunications service suppliers have been instructed to take measures to dam the app and report back to the ministry by June 2, Vietnam Information Company mentioned.

If nothing adjustments, Telegram will change into the primary encrypted messaging app to be banned in Vietnam. Reuters reported that the app was nonetheless out there inside Vietnam on Friday.

The order originated from a Ministry of Public Safety doc that discovered that out of a complete of 9,600 Telegram channels and teams current in Vietnam, 68% have been categorised as “dangerous and poisonous.” Amongst them, many teams and associations “with tens of hundreds of members” had “disseminated anti-state contents”. It cited fraud, drug trafficking and “instances suspected of being associated to terrorism” among the many unlawful actions carried out by way of the app.

The teams, in keeping with the Ministry of Public Safety, have been established by “opposing and reactionary parts.”

Vietnam’s communist authorities has tightened controls on on-line info out there contained in the nation. It has recurrently blocked web sites belonging to unbiased newspapers and international information shops, together with RFA Vietnamese. It has additionally pressured Fb, essentially the most extensively used social community in Vietnam, to extend censorship of political content material.

The Telecommunications Division offered two authorized grounds to justify the brand new ban on Telegram.

It cited Article 9 of the Telecommunications Legislation, which prohibits “profiting from telecommunications actions to oppose the state” and requires telecommunications service suppliers in Vietnam to register their operations. In response to the Telecommunications Division, Telegram “did not adjust to the laws.”

It additionally cited Decree 147 on Web Providers and On-line Data which requires firms offering cross-border web companies to cooperate with the Vietnamese authorities in eradicating info deemed to violate the legislation.

Telegram expressed shock over the official discover and mentioned it was processing its response.

“Telegram is stunned by these statements. We've responded to authorized requests from Vietnam on time,“ Remi Vaughn from the Telegram Press Workforce advised RFA by e-mail.

“This morning, we obtained a proper discover from the Authority of Communications relating to a normal service notification process required below new telecom laws. The deadline for the response is Could 27, and we're processing the request," Vaughn mentioned.