Việt Nam’s government has officially defined “fake news,” but vague wording and immediate arrests have led to concerns over arbitrary enforcement and the suppression of free thought.
The Latest: On Aug. 19, the government issued Decree No. 328/2026 on combating fake news and false information.
- Proposed by the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), it takes effect on Oct. 5, 2026.
- This marks the first time the government has issued an official definition of “fake news and false information.”
The Details: Under Clause 1, Article 3, the decree defines “fake news and false information” as “information that is wholly untrue or partly true and harms national security, the country’s reputation or image, social order and safety, or the lawful rights and interests of individuals and organizations.”
- The terminology includes fake, false, misleading, forged, fabricated, defamatory, and distorted information.
Article 4 empowers the MPS to classify fake news and false information by their degree of harm.
- The “particularly serious” category targets information that has large-scale negative effects on national security, defense, foreign affairs, public order, or public safety; harms the reputation of the Communist Party or the state or the reputation, honor, or dignity of senior leaders; and could cause a media crisis, incite unrest, or produce profound public anxiety.
- The “harmful” category covers information with a narrower reach that directly infringes upon the reputation, honor, dignity, lawful rights, or interests of a specific agency, organization, or individual.
Under Article 17, which addresses responsibilities and authority, the MPS is empowered to receive and process reports, denunciations, and complaints involving fake news and false information.
- The ministry may also fact-check, verify, and clarify information showing signs of being fake or false. Information that the police directly “fact-checks,” “verifies,” and “determines” to be fake or false will be labeled “fake news or false information.”
Similarly, Article 14 authorizes the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to “receive reports, denunciations, and complaints concerning fake news and false information and transfer them to other relevant units for handling when the information shows signs of being fake news or false information.”
Social Media Takes: The new decree has drawn limited public discussion.
On Aug. 24, the account vantoas*** published a Threads post that said, “Does anyone understand what is happening? This decree legalizes the power to label things at will! To quote Animal Farm: ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.’”
- More than eight hours after publication, the post had received over 400 likes and 17,200 views.
- In the comments, the account rg_1*** wrote:
“This is binary thinking—either true or false, with nothing in between. No report in this world is 100% accurate, and who gets to define that standard anyway? If a report has 10 parts, with nine true and one false, what does that mean? What if one is true and nine are false? A decree can muzzle the public, but it cannot muzzle thought.”
- The account _quocan*** commented:
“This approach can only repress people; it will convince no one. Since when can matters of thought be resolved through coercion?”
The Background: Penalties for allegedly publishing “fake news and false information” have long involved contradictions and prompted mixed public reactions.
- For years, people have faced administrative penalties for allegedly disseminating “fake news and false information” about the Communist Party and its leaders.
Notable Example: Recent enforcement actions illustrate these ongoing tensions.
On the afternoon of Aug. 22, Hồ Chí Minh City police detained Lê Thị Hiểu for investigation on suspicion of “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state and the lawful rights and interests of organizations and individuals.”
- Police stated that authorities deemed one statement Hiểu posted on TikTok to be false: the claim that “more than 38,800 businesses have withdrawn from the market in Hồ Chí Minh City.”
- However, official figures released by the city at an Aug. 12 meeting confirmed that 38,800 businesses had indeed withdrawn from the market during the first seven months of 2026.
- It remains unclear on what grounds investigators determined that Hiểu’s statement that “more than 38,800 businesses have withdrawn from the market in Hồ Chí Minh City” was false.
A day later, the Tuổi Trẻ newspaper published another article titled, “Why Did TikToker QuyHoi’s Video Saying ‘38,800 Businesses Withdrew From the Hồ Chí Minh City Market’ Violate the Law?”
- The newspaper reported that the video “did not merely say that 38,800 businesses had withdrawn from the Hồ Chí Minh City market, as news reports had published.”
- Instead, the publication stated that Hiểu also “made sweeping, false, and distorted statements attacking and insulting the city leaders.”
Why It Matters: The decree establishes sweeping and ambiguous criteria. It fails to distinguish facts from opinions, nor does it exclude satire, parody, or fictional works generally from the category of “fake news and false information.”
- Decree 328 defines “information showing signs of being fake or false” merely as “information that may be fake news or false information,” while containing several other definitions and provisions that are difficult to understand.
Under Article 9, the decree recognizes that some information “cannot be authenticated” despite verification efforts.
- Yet, even when the government cannot verify information, Article 11 allows authorities to issue a warning advising or directing individuals and organizations “to exercise caution or not to use, post, or disseminate the information.”
- Consequently, information the government cannot determine to be true or false may still be prohibited from circulating.
- Furthermore, under Article 11, a person who posts information merely suspected of being “fake news or false information” may be publicly named, with a notification sent to the person’s residence or workplace.
Under the Article 8 “process for handling fake news and false information,” “publication and warnings” appear at step four, whereas the “application of enforcement measures” does not occur until step six.
- This sequence suggests that before a person is formally sanctioned under the regulations, authorities may already impose a punitive measure: publicly naming that person.
Thành Phương wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on August 24, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
