TikTok required to implement child protection measures

TikTok's violations were announced in the conclusion of a comprehensive inspection of this social network in Vietnam, announced by the Ministry of Information and Communications on the afternoon of October 5.

Multiple violations

According to Mr. Le Quang Tu Do, Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information (PT-TH-TTĐT, Ministry of Information and Communications), for the first time, the Ministry of Information and Communications organized a comprehensive inspection of cross-border social platforms with the participation of representatives of 6 ministries and branches including: Ministry of Public Security , Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs and Central Youth Union.

The Ministry of Information and Communications requires deleting accounts of children under 13 years old; limiting access time and using TikTok for people under 18 years old

The interdisciplinary inspection team conducted a comprehensive inspection of TikTok from late May to early June with four key contents, including: compliance with regulations on providing social networking services to users in Vietnam; compliance with regulations on advertising; protection of copyright and related rights; compliance with regulations related to providing e-commerce services and fulfillment of tax obligations.

The inspection team has identified a number of violations by TikTok in providing cross-border services to Vietnam. These include outstanding violations in providing social networking services and protecting children. TikTok stores information that violates Vietnamese law, including: fake information, distortions, inciting violence, inciting social evils; information harmful to children... "The content censorship process is not effective, allowing many contents that violate Vietnamese law to escape. The method of distributing and recommending content based on user interactions, interests, and concerns can easily lead to content that violates Vietnamese law being spread quickly if many users interact and care about it," the Director of the Department of Radio, Television, and Electronic Information stated.

Although the social platform claims to be for people aged 13 and older, TikTok still allows children under 13 to open accounts. This social network also does not organize information reception, assessment and classification according to the level of safety for children.

Mr. Le Quang Tu Do, Director of the Department of Radio - Television - Electronic Information, Ministry of Information and Communications

Notably, according to Mr. Le Quang Tu Do, this social network does not have measures or tools to ensure the safety of children's private information; does not send warning messages about risks when children provide or change their private information; does not detect and remove images, documents, and information that are not suitable for children, affecting the healthy development of children.

"Although this social platform announces that it is only for people aged 13 and over, TikTok still allows children under 13 to open accounts. This social network also does not organize to receive information, evaluate and classify according to the level of safety for children," said Mr. Tu Do.

Regarding the provision of e-commerce services, TikTok has not published information about the application owner on the homepage of the TikTok Shop application as prescribed, violating the provisions of Point d, Clause 1, Article 62 of Decree 98/2020; has not fully stored seller information as prescribed when registering to use the service; has not fully conducted inspection and supervision to ensure the provision of information about the seller's goods on the e-commerce trading floor as prescribed...

Can't punish TikTok

Although TikTok has many violations, the Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information said that it is impossible to punish this social network because TikTok Pte.Ltd (TikTok Singapore) manages and operates TikTok in Vietnam.

Mr. Le Quang Tu Do informed: "The results of the inspection and verification show that the TikTok Office and TikTok Vietnam Company are not directly involved in the management and provision of cross-border services into Vietnam through the TikTok.com website and TikTok application. The provision of cross-border services into Vietnam is directly managed and operated by TikTok Singapore".

As for the e-commerce trading floor service, because the TikTok Office carries out the registration procedure to establish a "Commercial Trading Floor" through the TikTok application under the authorization of TikTok Singapore, according to the regulations on e-commerce, the TikTok Office must be jointly responsible for violations in providing this service according to the provisions of Vietnamese law.

According to Mr. Tu Do, TikTok had not previously provided information on authorized operations. Only during the inspection did the inspection team discover that TikTok opened a company in Vietnam just to research the market. The contents of the minutes and violations in Vietnam were not removed by TikTok Vietnam but had to be sent to TikTok Singapore for handling.

Regarding the above violations, Mr. Tu Do shared: "Initially, the inspection team also intended to propose penalties, but TikTok VN had no authority at all. TikTok VN Company was established only to research the market. Because it is a new model, Vietnamese laws have not kept up, and have not been able to punish cross-border platforms, so this is their way of circumventing the law."

"TikTok Singapore is not the subject of inspection but is the unit that directly manages, operates, and provides cross-border services to Vietnam through the TikTok.com website and the TikTok application. Therefore, TikTok Singapore is the unit responsible for complying with Vietnamese law in providing cross-border services to Vietnam," said the Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information.

Request TikTok to delete children's accounts

Based on the above violations, the Director of the Department of Information and Communications Technology said that the inspection team recommended and requested the TikTok Office to take responsibility according to the provisions of Vietnamese law for the provision of cross-border e-commerce trading floor services into Vietnam through the TikTok application.

TikTok Singapore directly authorizes TikTok Vietnam Office to participate in management activities and provide cross-border services to Vietnam.

Regarding TikTok VN Technology Company Limited, the inspection team requested TikTok Singapore to directly authorize participation in management activities and provide cross-border services to Vietnam.

To strengthen management of TikTok Singapore's cross-border service provision into Vietnam, the inspection team requested the Ministry of Information and Communications to take measures to force TikTok Singapore to immediately correct violations in providing social networking services and cross-border advertising services into Vietnam.

Accordingly, TikTok Singapore must remove 100% of content that violates Vietnamese law and have solutions to prevent content that has been blocked from being re-posted; add compliance with Vietnamese law to the Community Standards; periodically notify all TikTok users about compliance with Vietnamese law, strictly prohibiting the posting of content that opposes the Party, the State, and violates Vietnamese law.

The interdisciplinary inspection team also warned about sanctions and handling measures if users post or share illegal content (depending on the severity of the violation, accounts may be temporarily locked or permanently deleted, etc.); not using algorithms to create trends or recommend to users content that violates Vietnamese law; completely banning political advertising with content that opposes the Party and State of Vietnam; coordinating to provide information to verify and investigate illegal acts committed on the TikTok platform according to regulations.

Regarding measures to protect children online, Mr. Tu Do said that the inspection team paid special attention to verifying account information to detect cases where children declared incorrect age to use TikTok, and deleted accounts of children under 13 years old. Limit the time of access and use of TikTok for people under 18 years old, and do not allow children to earn money through TikTok.

To protect children's personal information, when posting, it is necessary to have the consent of children and parents, caregivers, guardians of children or videos need to cover faces, blur images of children before posting. Warning about age for videos on TikTok, strictly control videos with nonsense, toxic content, inappropriate for age. In addition, TikTok needs to research and build a dedicated application for children (app for kids) in Vietnam.

The inspection team also requested the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs to strengthen coordination with the Ministry of Information and Communications to deploy solutions to protect children in the online environment; effectively exploit and operate the network to respond to and protect children in the online environment; and monitor TikTok's compliance with the Law on Children and regulations of Vietnamese law related to the prevention of social evils in Vietnam.

Strengthening management of artists on TikTok

The inspection team requested the Ministry of Industry and Trade to take appropriate action against the violations of TikTok Singapore and the Representative Office of TikTok Pte. Ltd in providing e-commerce platform services in Vietnam. Supervise the correction of violations in providing e-commerce platform services by the Representative Office and TikTok Singapore according to the inspection conclusion; strengthen supervision of e-commerce platform provision activities through the TikTok application in Vietnam.

The inspection team also requested the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to strengthen coordination with the Ministry of Information and Communications to manage people working in the arts on the TikTok platform; and to monitor TikTok's compliance with Vietnamese law on copyright and related rights in Vietnam.

TikTok commits to comply with Vietnamese regulations

Faced with the violations pointed out by the interdisciplinary inspection team, TikTok representatives pledged to closely coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications and relevant ministries and branches to implement the inspection conclusions.

At the press conference, Mr. Nguyen Lam Thanh, TikTok VN Policy Director, said: "Many inspection conclusions have been implemented by TikTok, some are being implemented and some content needs time. Basically, TikTok will organize to implement the conclusions of the inspection team".

According to Mr. Thanh, TikTok also recognizes that the responsibility to ensure the safety of users online is very important. "In July - the month of action against online fraud, we have popularized the Online Fraud Prevention Handbook with 24 forms of online fraud communicated to users on the platform. Currently, TikTok has 1.8 billion views and comments from Vietnamese users on this content. That shows that users have grasped the knowledge and thereby avoided being scammed. This is an experience for TikTok to coordinate with state management agencies in bringing value to Vietnamese users," said Mr. Nguyen Lam Thanh.

Mr. Le Quang Tu Do said that after the inspection results were issued, the Ministry of Information and Communications worked with TikTok Singapore.

TikTok Singapore is very willing, sending senior leaders to work, committing to the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Government to handle and correct violations according to the inspection team's request. "TikTok Singapore agrees with the requirements raised by the inspection team. TikTok has also made immediate adjustments to its operations and committed to correcting violations and submitting a written report within the next 30 days," said Mr. Tu Do.

According to Mr. Le Quang Tu Do, in the coming time, the coordination between ministries and branches will become increasingly closer in managing information on the Internet, especially on cross-border platforms. In the case that cross-border platforms do not comply with Vietnamese laws and regulations and do not coordinate, those platforms will certainly not be welcomed in Vietnam.

Verify and clarify the incident related to Facebook Vo Quoc

Regarding the incident where chef Vo Quoc's Facebook page contained offensive words to the press, at the press conference, Mr. Le Quang Tu Do said: "Up to this point, we have not received an official document from the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City regarding the proposal to put Vo Quoc's Facebook on the "blacklist". Currently, there are some issues that need further clarification, we will discuss with the Department of Information and Communications to grasp specific information".

According to Mr. Tu Do, after the incident, Mr. Vo Quoc made moves to request the management agency and the press agency to consider that this chef was not the one who directly wrote the insulting words to the press and is proving this.

However, the Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information said: "Mr. Vo Quoc must be responsible for managing his account. We are investigating, verifying and checking the information to understand the nature of the incident. If the content is correct as reflected by Mr. Vo Quoc, the authorities will inform the press agency. If not, based on the recommendation of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City, the Ministry of Information and Communications will notify brands and agents that this is a violation to limit cooperation with this account for a certain period of time."

According to Mr. Le Quang Tu Do, Whitelist (verified list) and Blacklist are initiatives of the Ministry of Information and Communications to be implemented in early 2023. The Ministry of Information and Communications coordinates with businesses, advertising agencies, and major domestic brands. According to this initiative, priority should be given to advertising on pages and channels verified by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

In addition, brands and advertising agencies are not allowed to advertise or cooperate with pages, channels, or entities that violate the law. Depending on the severity of the violation, there will be different levels of time and duration of non-cooperation. This is based on the consensus of the parties and is not a mandatory regulation.

"When we organized this initiative, brands, advertising agencies, media companies and press agencies all supported it to contribute to cleaning up cyberspace and protecting brand safety. If units post advertisements on pages and channels that violate the law, they themselves will be administratively punished; at the same time, their brands will also be affected," said the Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information.

Thu Hang

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