Vietnam to fine social media users spreading hoaxes starting 1 July

Hanoi (ANTARA) - Vietnam will impose fines on individuals who create or disseminate false, inaccurate, distorted, or defamatory information on social media that harms the reputation of institutions and organisations or the honour and dignity of individuals, local newspaper Nhan Dan reported on Tuesday (30/6).

The fines range from 20 million to 30 million Vietnamese dong (approximately 794 to 1,190 US dollars).

The report stated that the same fine range will also apply to various violations, such as sharing explicit images depicting murder, violence, accidents, or other disturbing scenes; disseminating copyrighted journalistic, literary, or artistic works without permission; promoting prohibited goods or services; uploading maps of Vietnam that do not accurately reflect the country’s sovereignty; and sharing links to online content banned under Vietnamese law.

Under the new regulations, fines ranging from 30 million to 50 million dong will be imposed for spreading content that distorts history, denies revolutionary achievements, undermines national unity, insults religion, or incites gender or racial discrimination, provided such acts do not meet the threshold for criminal prosecution.

The report added that the same fine range also applies to acts of leaking state secrets, personal privacy, or other confidential information that do not yet meet the threshold for criminal liability, as well as spreading false information that causes public panic, disrupts social and economic activities, hinders the operations of state agencies or public officials, or violates the lawful rights and interests of organisations and individuals.

These policies are set out in a government decree that takes effect on 1 July 2026.