As Việt Nam’s top leadership calls for civility and “kindness” in cyberspace, local police pages are drawing public ire for deploying sarcasm and thinly veiled threats online.
The Latest: On the morning of June 10 in Hà Nội, President Tô Lâm addressed 100 exemplary participants in Việt Nam Television’s “Good Deeds” program. The Communist Party chief, who is also a former police chief, delivered remarks emphasizing the urgent need to create a culture of positive online behavior, urging citizens to act “kindly” in cyberspace.
The Details: During his speech, Lâm stated that as digital spaces increasingly become an important part of social life, “every citizen, especially the younger generation, needs to become a responsible digital citizen.”
- He called on individuals to “know how to spread good things,” “not disseminate fake news,” “not insult others or follow bad behavior,” and “not turn indifference into a habit.”
- Furthermore, he urged citizens to “respect the truth,” “not spread false information,” “not use social media to insult or hurt others,” “know how to debate civilly,” “spread positivity,” and to avoid abusing digital platforms to become “fake” or “hacked.”
The Background: Recently, numerous Facebook pages operated by police forces in various localities have repeatedly posted content utilizing joking, sarcastic, or enforcement-heavy tones, which has drawn frustration from the public.
- On June 5, the Facebook page of the Trấn Biên Ward Police in Đồng Nai City posted a message targeting individuals making viral videos. The post read: “If you see any ‘fen’ or ‘cốt’ in Trấn Biên Ward making clips on the theme of ‘shaking the vehicle before starting it…,’ please tag the admin. Mainly, we just want to invite them to the ward office to learn about their clip-making experience. Promise we won’t test them.”
- In the comments section, the page administrator further explained that people would only be invited to the ward office to teach officers how to edit clips. In return, the officers would “teach them a class on how to go online confidently and safely for their wallets, because copying whatever others do without understanding the matter clearly can get expensive.”
- In response, many Facebook accounts left sharp comments criticizing the post and the page’s administrator.
- Earlier, the official fan page of the Drug Crime Investigation Police Division under the Hồ Chí Minh City Police Department also published several posts joking about arrests made during the city’s anti-drug crackdown.
Why It Matters: For years, many Vietnamese citizens have been fined for posting or sharing information that authorities deemed “fake” or “false.” Information that leads to such penalties often involves criticism of the Communist Party, the state, and party or state leaders.
Police have also frequently fined people for posting staged content designed to attract social media engagement, such as claims that rice grains drying outdoors exploded into puffed rice under extreme heat or that someone rode a python across Hoàn Kiếm Lake.
For instance, on June 9, Ninh Bình provincial police said that they had imposed an administrative fine of 7.5 million đồng on a female tourist identified as L.Q.A., who lives in Hà Nội, for posting false claims about spiritual phenomena in Ninh Bình Province.
Lăng Nguyên wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 10, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
