A Facebook group with more than 26,000 members, titled “Latest Hồng River Scenic Boulevard Project,” is facing new restrictions. On May 12, an administrator published a notice announcing tighter censorship of “keywords in both comments and posts.” This post was notably accompanied by an image of the Vĩnh Hưng Ward police headquarters in Hà Nội.
Latest Developments: To protect the group from “violations of community standards” and to “build a clean community,” the administrator stated that the automated system would reject posts and comments containing “sensitive language.”
These “violating keywords” mainly relate to calls for protests, criticism of the authorities, or opposition to government policies. Specifically, the banned words and phrases included “communist,” “protest,” “complete clearance,” “land grabbing/seizure,” “collecting petitions,” “mobilizing residents,” “people suffering,” “corruption,” “struggle,” “taking to the streets,” and others.
Furthermore, the administrator claimed in the comment section that local security officers and police had summoned them for questioning regarding group content allegedly considered provocative or anti-state. The Vietnamese Magazine could not independently verify this claim.
The Significance: Numerous Facebook groups emerged to share information about the Red River Scenic Boulevard Project after the Hà Nội People’s Council passed Resolution No. 498 in December 2025 to approve its investment policy.
These new communities, such as “Latest Red River Scenic Boulevard Project,” “Red River Boulevard – Riverside City – Information Sharing,” and “Hà Nội Residents Association – Red River City Planning; West Lake,” joined existing forums for residents in the affected areas.
In recent months, they have provided continuous updates on construction progress, land recovery, site clearance, and investors. However, many posts have simultaneously expressed disagreement, opposition, or severe criticism regarding the investment policy.
Notably, these groups circulated a collective petition from residents of Hồng Hà Ward (Hà Nội). This petition called for authorities to “clarify signs of irregularities in financial management, land use, and proposals to preserve the existing residential community of Hồng Hà Ward” within the project area.
The document spread widely following the issuance of Notice No. 467 on May 6 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and the Hà Nội People’s Committee, which agreed in principle to gradually relocate and reorganize all residential communities outside the dike system.
The Background: On the morning of May 11, 2026, the Hà Nội People’s Council unanimously approved the investment policy for the Hồng River Scenic Boulevard Project.
Stretching across 16 communes and wards, the project covers approximately 11,418 hectares of land with a preliminary investment estimate of around 736.963 trillion đồng ($28 billion USD). Compared to the previous proposal, the revised plan reduces the total investment capital by roughly 118 trillion đồng.
This reduction was achieved by removing three wards—Vĩnh Tuy, Hoàng Mai, and Vĩnh Hưng—from the project area.
The project is expected to be implemented between 2026 and 2038, with Đại Quang Minh Company, Trường Hải, and Hòa Phát serving as principal investors.
Why It Matters: Recently, numerous social media users and Facebook group administrators in Việt Nam have reportedly faced summons, fines, or pressure to sign pledges regarding their online activities. This crackdown aligns with repeated concerns from international human rights organizations regarding the shrinking space for freedom of expression online in Việt Nam.
Concurrently, the Ministry of Public Security has spearheaded the drafting of new legal documents targeting “fake news” and “false information.” Under one draft anti-fake-news decree, proposed measures include fines of tens of millions of đồng for individuals who “directly or indirectly establish, operate, manage, or moderate websites, blogs, electronic information pages, social media pages, or social media accounts containing fake or false information.”
Additionally, another draft decree focusing on administrative sanctions in the cybersecurity sector proposes penalties for “establishing electronic information pages, social media platforms, community pages, content channels, or online groups to publish or instruct others to create and disseminate false or distorted information.”
Lê Sáng wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on May 12, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights of the English translation.
