Significantly increase penalties for violations involving children.

Government Decree 98/2026 on administrative penalties in the fields of social protection, social assistance, and children has come into effect, replacing Decree 130/2021. It adds a series of new violations and increases penalties related to children, people with disabilities, social relief, and victims of human trafficking.

Báo Đồng Tháp•17/05/2026

Let's work together to protect children. Photo: UNICEF

Adding electronic methods of enforcement.

One of the notable points of Decree No. 98/2026/ND-CP is that it includes specific regulations for penalizing the exploitation of children's images on social media for "views," livestreaming sales, or creating offensive content.

Specifically, the Decree stipulates a fine of 40-50 million VND for exploiting the images and personal information of children to create content that harms their physical and mental development or for profit, provided it does not yet warrant criminal prosecution. This is entirely new content compared to the previous Decree No. 130/2021/ND-CP.

Forcing children to do excessive and prolonged household chores that interfere with their studies, play, and recreation, and negatively impact their development, the penalty will be between 20 and 30 million VND.

The penalties for organizing or forcing children to beg; renting, lending, or using children for begging; leading, enticing, instigating, luring, inciting, exploiting, or coercing children into acting as intermediaries in transactions involving child exploitation; and leading, enticing, instigating, luring, inciting, exploiting, or forcing children into labor in violation of the law have been increased to 30-40 million VND.

In addition to fines, Decree No. 98/2026 also adds remedial measures such as requiring the return of all illegal profits obtained from the violation and requiring payment of medical expenses for children if health damage is caused.

Along with enacting regulations to tighten control over child exploitation, the new decree also expands the scope of penalties to include violations related to children's privacy.

Decree No. 98 also adds many punishable acts such as publicly disclosing children's personal information; illegally posting images and videos of children; and disclosing children's academic records, medical records, and private circumstances on social media.

Recently, there have been many cases of children being abused, exploited, or in vulnerable circumstances, with their images and videos being spread on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube. Therefore, these regulations are expected to more effectively prevent acts of child abuse in the online environment.

The decree also adds provisions for imposing administrative penalties electronically. Electronic data, clips, images, livestreams, etc., can be used as grounds for penalties.

Tighten regulations related to social relief.

According to Decree No. 98, many new offenses have been added to the list of punishable acts, such as swapping relief goods; distributing aid to the wrong recipients; misappropriating relief funds; causing loss or damage to relief goods; using relief funds for improper purposes; and exploiting natural disasters and epidemics for personal gain through support policies.

Children need to be protected. Photo: UNICEF

In addition to fines, offenders are also required to return all illegal profits obtained from the violation.

Acts such as impersonating victims of human trafficking to obtain assistance; obstructing assistance to victims; and disclosing the whereabouts, images, phone numbers, social media accounts, or records of victims may all be subject to administrative penalties. This is also a new point compared to Decree No. 130.

For social assistance facilities, the Decree clearly stipulates the responsibilities for managing and caring for social protection beneficiaries. Actions such as failing to ensure adequate care; allowing violence to occur within the facility; neglecting beneficiaries; misusing support funds; and improperly admitting and managing beneficiaries will also be subject to increased penalties or additional punishments. In many cases, in addition to fines, the facility may also face suspension of operations.

Discriminatory or insulting behavior towards people with disabilities; obstruction of marriage for people with disabilities; obstruction of their legal right to raise children; or refusal to provide services in violation of regulations due to disability may all be subject to administrative penalties.

In addition, penalties have been increased for many behaviors related to the care and upbringing of children, such as neglecting children, failing to fulfill caregiving obligations, mistreating children, or failing to ensure minimum learning and living conditions for children.

In addition to increasing fines, the Decree also expands many remedial measures such as requiring the return of wrongfully received subsidies; requiring the removal of infringing information; requiring a public apology; requiring the return of illegal profits; and requiring payment of medical expenses.

The maximum fine in the field of social welfare and children's affairs is 50 million VND for individuals and 100 million VND for organizations.

According to nhandan.vn

Source: https://baodongthap.vn/tang-manh-muc-phat-hanh-vi-vi-pham-lien-quan-tre-em-a240927.html