With a population of over 100 million, Vietnam is a Southeast Asian nation that will ban access to Telegram for not working with local law enforcement to solve crimes committed on the messaging app. The Vietnam’s ministry of science and technology charges the messaging app with failing to assist in the fight against alleged crimes committed by its users.
Telegram stated the decision was unexpected, but Vietnam has ordered the country’s telecom carriers to stop the messaging app for failing to assist in the fight against suspected crimes perpetrated by its users.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Science and Technology’s telecoms agency warned internet service providers in letters that there were “signs of law violation” on Telegram, according to a report posted on the government news portal on Friday.
The Internet service providers should “deploy solutions and measures to prevent Telegram’s activities in Vietnam,” according to the ministry.
The Telecom Department of the Ministry of Science and Technology in the country issued a directive on May 21st to telecom service providers to block Telegram, according to several local media agencies. By June 2nd, they must also submit the implementation plan and outcomes to the ministry.
According to the government’s study on the app, which cited police, about 70% of Vietnam’s 9,600 Telegram channels include “poisonous and bad information.” The government also said that tens of thousands of people were part of groups and associations on Telegram that had shared “antistate documents” and engaged in “reactionary activities.”
Additionally, the authorities asserted that several groups on Telegram were involved in drug trafficking, had “terrorist” connections, and sold user data.
In general, Vietnam’s authoritarian government acts quickly to quell dissent and apprehend critics, particularly those who gain traction on social media.
In what detractors characterized as the most recent assault on freedom of expression in the communist-run nation, new regulations went into effect in Vietnam last year, requiring social media sites like Facebook and TikTok to confirm user identities and provide data to authorities.
A Telegram representative told the Reuters news agency that the business was “surprised” by the Vietnamese government’s action.
“We have promptly addressed Vietnam’s legal requests. We are working on the request, and the response is due on May 27,” the Telegram spokesperson stated.
The ministry responded on behalf of the nation’s cybersecurity department, the paper states. According to the statement, the action was taken in response to reports from local authorities, who discovered that 68% of Vietnamese Telegram channels broke local regulations by engaging in illicit activities such as drug trafficking and fraud.
Vietnamese officials also disclosed that frauds on Telegram had cheated over 13,000 victims out of about VND1 trillion (US$38 million). Furthermore, it has been reported that the messaging service illegally sold the personal information of 23 million people.
“We have promptly addressed Vietnam’s legal requests,” the Telegram spokesman continued. “The Authority of Communications formally notified us this morning about a standard service notification method that is mandated by new telecom legislation. We are working on the request, and the response is due on May 27.
The prevalence of clone scams on Telegram was previously covered by FinanceMagnates.com. According to a joint survey conducted by FXStreet and FinanceMagnates.com, 60% of traders of financial instruments who fell for scammers on Telegram lost money. Despite being aware of these scams on the platform, regulators in Cyprus and the United Kingdom acknowledged that it is challenging to put an end to them.
The decision was made in response to Telegram’s refusal to provide the authorities with user data as part of criminal investigations, a representative of Vietnam’s Science and Technology Ministry told the Reuters news agency.
Internet-based telecom service providers are required to report infractions that take place on their platforms under Vietnamese legislation that went into effect on January 1. Vietnamese officials, however, said that the massive chat network disregarded multiple warnings.
As on Friday, Telegram was still accessible in Vietnam.
By the beginning of 2025, there were 79.8 million internet users in Vietnam, according to the Data Report website, and 11.8 million Telegram users, according to the data extraction firm SOAX.
Telegram, which has about one billion users globally, has been embroiled in security and data breach-related disputes all over the world.
Pavel Durov, the creator and CEO of Telegram, was arrested at a Paris airport after he was accused of failing to stop “terrorist” and extremist information on the app. Durov was born in Russia. According to reports, he is still in France and cannot leave without permission from the government.
Every month, 1 billion people use Telegram worldwide. One of the primary factors contributing to its popularity is its encryption feature. Statista reported 17.55 million downloads of the Telegram app in Vietnam in 2023, while the precise number of Telegram users in Vietnam is unknown.
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