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A state broadcaster’s attempt to defend press freedom in Việt Nam was met with a flood of laughing emojis and restricted comment sections.

The Latest: On June 24, VTV4, the foreign-language television channel under Vietnam Television, posted a news segment on Facebook titled “What Is the Purpose Behind Distorted Narratives About Press Freedom in Việt Nam?”

The segment claimed that some "ill-intentioned" news outlets had relied on Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index to "organize reactionary activities" and "smear Vietnamese journalism."

As of 9 a.m. on June 26, the segment had received more than 3,400 interactions, including more than 2,300 "haha" reactions.

Users were unable to read the more than 200 comments under the post.

The Details: During the segment, Associate Professor Dr. Đỗ Cảnh Thìn, deputy director of the Institute for Non-Traditional Security at Vietnam National University, Hà Nội, claimed that press freedom and freedom of speech remain "stable," "existent," and "accepted by the people."

Thìn also stated that they are making "very positive" contributions to socioeconomic development.

Public Reaction: Despite these broadcasted statements, public dissent spilled over onto other platforms.

On Threads, an account named minly_miu wrote , "VTV should take more concrete actions to show the public that Việt Nam still has press freedom and that the press is truly objective and protects the vulnerable." After more than one day, the post received more than 5,600 likes and over 271 comments.

Another account, ngo_chien.wawaweewa, commented, "It’s hilarious. Every time I open Facebook, I keep seeing the broadcaster posting complaints […]. And yet somehow, no one knows where that public opinion survey on E10 gasoline has gone." This comment, which received more than 780 likes, references an incident on May 27 where VnExpress abruptly hid the results of a public survey regarding people’s willingness to switch to E10 gasoline. Before its removal, the survey had received more than 49,000 votes, with 93% of respondents stating they did not want to switch.

A comment from the account mminhlee received more than 500 likes: "Do you have 30 million yet, or how dare you post this?" This figure may reference the Ministry of Public Security's draft decree on administrative penalties in cybersecurity and personal data protection.

Originally, under Article 8, the ministry proposed fines of 20 million to 30 million đồng for creating information that contains fabricated content or insults another person’s honor, reputation, or dignity.

The ministry has since reduced the proposed fine for that conduct to 10 million to 20 million đồng under Articles 7 and 8 of the latest draft.

The Background: The VTV4 segment was a response to the 2026 World Press Freedom Index, released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on the morning of April 30 at a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan.

Although Việt Nam’s score rose by 1.5 points to 21.15 out of 100, the country fell one place to 174th out of 180.

Việt Nam continues to rank near the bottom alongside Eritrea (180th), North Korea (179th), China (178th), Iran (177th), Saudi Arabia (176th), and Afghanistan (175th).

The RSF wrote in its report that "traditional media are tightly controlled by a single political party. Independent journalists and bloggers frequently face imprisonment, which makes Việt Nam one of the world’s biggest prisons for journalists."

On April 30, Cédric Alviani, director of the Asia-Pacific Bureau of Reporters Without Borders, told Luật Khoa, "our Press Freedom Index is based on the opinions [surveyed] of local people and those who directly experience that press environment every day, so I can say with confidence that it is far more comprehensive and accurate than the Vietnamese government’s statements."

Although published in 2026, the index evaluates conditions in 2025 and is part of an annual program conducted since 2002.

2026 World Press Freedom Index: This year’s Reporters Without Borders index reflects a broader global decline.

For the first time since the organization began publishing the index, more than half of the world’s population lives in countries classified as having a "difficult" or "very serious" press freedom situation, while only 1% lives in countries rated "good."

Notably, the United States dropped nearly three points, from 65.5 to 62.6, and fell seven places from last year, moving from 57th to 64th out of 180.

Related Incident: In a related development on June 24, the Authority of Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information reported that in the first six months of 2026, major platforms heavily complied with censorship requests.

Meta blocked or removed 63 accounts and 2,147 pieces of content.

TikTok removed 440 accounts and 115,000 videos, with the fastest removal time being just three hours.

YouTube removed 18 channels and 13,000 videos, equivalent to 165 million views (double the figure from 2025).

Over 94% of removal requests were complied with by Meta, YouTube, and TikTok.

Starting in 2026, Threads will also remove posts upon request, mirroring Facebook's policies.

Why It Matters: Under one-party rule, the government stifled journalism in Việt Nam after 1954 in the north and after 1975 in the south. While the press space became more open in the 1990s and 2000s, it has rapidly regressed since the mid-2010s.

Private journalism is officially outlawed, although some privately operated outlets, including VnExpress, Zing, Dân Trí, Kênh 14, and CafeF, still operate under state cover.

Independent media have faced severe repression:

Three key leaders of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam were sentenced to 11 to 15 years in prison in 2020.

Luật Khoa journalist Phạm Đoan Trang is also serving a nine-year prison sentence from the same year.

Most recently, journalist Trương Huy San was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Thành Phương wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on June 26, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.

VTV4 News Segment on Việt Nam Press Freedom Draws Humor and Skepticism from the Public

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