A new decree imposing heavy fines for sharing journalistic content has led to many social media accounts blocking state media pages.
The Latest: Many Facebook accounts are simultaneously blocking state media pages to avoid accidental infractions as new regulations take effect.
On July 1, a user named Cam Trần wrote: “I’m someone who often shares and takes screenshots of news articles, so today I blocked all of them for peace of mind. If I don’t block them, I might absentmindedly take a screenshot out of habit, and that could easily cost me a year’s salary.”
- The account included an image showing a list of newspapers the person had blocked.
Preemptive Blocking: The public reaction began escalating online days prior to the rollout.
On June 29, an account named Seven Phan TA posted that “as July 1 approaches, people are afraid they might accidentally share something and get fined, so everyone is rushing to block news pages. I […] blocked them too, just to be safe, because if I accidentally click share, where would I get 20 million to 30 million đồng to pay the fine?”
- The post received more than 1,100 likes and 230 comments.
Under the post, numerous individuals supported the blocking of state media pages. Some accounts commented that “citizens have the freedom to block anyone they want or even delete them altogether,” while others stated “the newspapers post something wrong and then delete it, but we still get fined as usual,” among other remarks.
Government Response: On June 29, the Department of Cybersecurity and Hi-Tech Crime Prevention under the Ministry of Public Security addressed the trend on Facebook, stating, “Dropping good pages, locking in bad ones. Be careful blocking official pages, or you may end up only reading and sharing fake news. After July 1, it won’t be 7.5 million anymore.”
- The department also stated, “official journalism is a verified, accurate, and trustworthy source of information […] if people choose to block these channels, they deprive themselves of access to truthful news and become more likely to fall into the ‘trap’ of manipulation by fake news and harmful information from tabloid pages.”
- The department attached a screenshot of a Facebook account with a concealed name that had blocked several state media outlets. The image was marked with a red cross, and the caption read, “This is the current trend among many Vietnamese people. To avoid unfairly losing money if they accidentally get itchy fingers and share news pages after the new heavy-fine rule was issued […]”
- The department added in a separate comment: “It’s all just a trick by hostile elements.”
In the comments section, the department explained that because Decree 174/2026 will “strictly handle violations in cyberspace, including the unauthorized sharing of journalistic content,” some individuals have “misunderstood” the rule, while “some accounts are deliberately inciting the community to boycott and block official press channels under the pretext of being confused and ‘afraid of being fined.’”
As of 10 a.m. on July 1, the department’s post had received more than 8,000 interactions and more than 800 comments with most commenters supporting the department’s view.
- However, an account named Thanh Hải commented: “The state budget will increase rapidly this way,” which received 41 likes.
- Another account named Lan Hue shared the image posted by the Department of Cybersecurity and wrote, “Now the cybersecurity people are afraid that if people block official newspapers, they will access more ‘REACTIONARY’ pages, so they posted this to threaten people that the fines will only get higher and higher. […] This time is the 5.0 era. The people may not have spoken yet, but they are no longer letting the leftist Party control them as they did before.”
Decree 174/2026: The trend stems from Decree 174/2026—issued on May 15 and took effect on July 1, 2026—which dictates administrative penalties in the fields of postal services, telecommunications, radio frequencies, electronic transactions, and information technology.
- Point d, Clause 1, Article 95 of the decree provides that the act of “providing” or “sharing” journalistic works on social media without the consent of the intellectual property rights holder may be subject to a fine of 20 million to 30 million đồng.
Many individuals, including lawyers and journalists, remain confused by the ambiguity within the provision.
Thành Phương wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on July 1, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.
