Will require social media account owners to identify themselves

Speaking at the National Assembly's Judiciary Committee's explanation session on compliance with the law on preventing and combating human trafficking and authenticating social media accounts to limit online fraud, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam said that the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Public Security have a specific coordination mechanism on authenticating online accounts.

When local investigation agencies send documents to the Ministry requesting authentication of online accounts that show signs of violating the law, there will be a coordination mechanism with the Department of Information Security, Vietnam Internet Center, Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information to authenticate who the account owner is.

In some cases, it can be identified, while others are difficult because some subjects use messages via OTT applications across borders.

Social network accounts will be required to be identified by image 1 — Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam speaks at the explanation session.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam emphasized that this issue will be resolved in the near future with a specific legal framework, when the National Assembly considers and gives opinions on the draft revised Telecommunications Law. This draft Law stipulates that foreign OTT applications will be managed as domestic platforms.

"If the management requirements are not met, we will block them. Prevent the use of these applications to form groups to do fraudulent and untraceable things," said Mr. Lam.

The Deputy Minister of Information and Communications also pointed out that the decree replacing the decrees on management, provision and use of internet services and online information will be issued in late 2023 with very important changes.

Specifically, all social media account holders, whether individuals or organizations, are required to be identified. This applies to foreign social networks such as Facebook, YouTube, TikTok... "Unnamed social media accounts will be fought, blocked, and handled at different levels," said Mr. Lam.

The Deputy Minister of Information and Communications affirmed that the Ministry of Information and Communications will be able to prevent and delete violating social network accounts, even those of foreign applications. However, blocking and deleting will destroy traces and evidence, making it difficult for other forces to consolidate evidence and fight.

Social network accounts will be required to be identified by image 2 — Deputy Minister of Public Security Nguyen Duy Ngoc reports at the explanation session.

Regarding this content, Lieutenant General Nguyen Duy Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Public Security, also said that in reality, many criminals are taking advantage of technological developments to commit illegal acts.

The Deputy Minister of Public Security highly appreciated the Ministry of Information and Communications for cutting off two-way communication with unauthenticated subscribers.

By April 15, 2-way communication was cut off for unauthenticated subscribers. This resulted in the discovery of 1.2 million unauthenticated subscribers, many of which could potentially be used by criminals to commit crimes.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Duy Ngoc said that in the near future, the Ministry of Public Security will discuss with banks to verify payment accounts.

"Thus, we will approach and limit the problem of fraud, cybercrime, and the use of high technology in the form of phone SIM cards or account payments and money payments," Lieutenant General Nguyen Duy Ngoc stated.

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