With its director currently held in pretrial detention, the popular Vietnamese youth platform Spiderum has gone dark, leaving its operational future and legal status in doubt.
The Latest: The social media platform, Spiderum, has gone completely unreachable following the arrest of its director, Trần Việt Anh.
- At present, its main website states that it is “under maintenance,” and the legality of its social network license status is unclear.
- An anonymous source, speaking for safety reasons, stated that Spiderum is now “frozen” and can no longer be reached
- Another anonymous source with direct ties to company employees noted that the company is “going through a difficult period.”
The Details: Spiderum is not a single company but rather a cluster of legal entities represented by Trần Việt Anh. According to the company’s website, Spiderum Việt Nam Joint Stock Company acts as the parent company. Its subsidiaries include:
- Spiderum Media Joint Stock Company (formerly Felizz Joint Stock Company), which owns and operates the Spiderum social network, and
- Spiderum Publishing Joint Stock Company, which provides book-related services.
A search of the records for these businesses on the General Department of Taxation website and the Hanoi Department of Finance website shows that the businesses are officially still operating.
Completely Unreachable: However, actual contact with the company has proven impossible.
- Luật Khoa attempted to contact all four phone numbers listed on the company’s website on July 13, 14, and 15. Two numbers returned the message that the subscribers were temporarily unreachable. The other two were answered by women who said they no longer worked for Spiderum; when asked when she had left, one stated, “A few years ago.”
- Lê Thúy Nga, known as Nga Levi, Spiderum’s co-founder and business lead, was contacted on July 13, but no response has been received.
- Additionally, a message was sent through Spiderum’s website contact page on July 13, and an email was directed to contact@spiderum.com on the morning of July 14. As of the morning of July 15, no response had been received.
In addition, Spiderum’s social media pages—including Spiderum on Facebook, SpiderumBooks on Facebook, and @SpiderumBooks on YouTube—have all been disabled or deleted.
- The Spiderum YouTube channel and spiderum.book Instagram account remain accessible, but the YouTube channel has not been updated since July 4, and the Instagram account has posted nothing new since July 8.
The Background: These developments follow the arrest of Trần Việt Anh, the director of the social media platform. He is currently being held in pretrial detention for investigation over alleged anti-state propaganda under Article 117 of the Penal Code.
- VTV announced the information on July 7, though it remains unclear when authorities issued the decision to prosecute him or when he was officially detained.
- Việt Anh is accused of promoting “Chuyện với Thanh,” a book by Nguyễn Thành Nam, former CEO of FPT Corporation.
Why It Matters: The status of Spiderum’s social network license is unclear.
Vietnamese newspapers and broadcasters must obtain licenses from the Press Authority, while social networks such as Spiderum, Lotus, and Tinh Tế must obtain social network licenses from the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI).
- ABEI was formerly under the Ministry of Information and Communications and now under the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism.
Spiderum’s website states that it operates the youth-oriented social network under license No. 341/GP-TTTT, issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications on June 27, 2016.
- ABEI is responsible for reviewing applications for such licenses.
However, public information on ABEI’s website indicates that Spiderum’s license was valid for 10 years, meaning it expired on June 26, 2026.
- That date nearly coincides with when Spiderum.com shut down and began displaying an “under maintenance” notice.
Additionally, the website giayphep.abei.gov.vn, a license database maintained by ABEI, shows no information about Spiderum’s license, whether expired or newly issued.
- This is unusual because the database typically displays expired licenses for other social networks.
When Luật Khoa contacted ABEI by phone on the afternoon of July 13, the official who answered declined to provide information about Spiderum’s license status.
- The official stated that giayphep.abei.gov.vn is updated daily but is still in trial operation.
- They also declined to confirm whether the database is fully complete.
Trịnh Hữu Long wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on July 15, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
