Đà Nẵng Police’s attempt at public communication backfired after officers publicly objectified a female criminal suspect on Facebook.
The Latest: On Oct. 1, the Facebook page “Công an phường An Khê – Đà Nẵng” (The Police of An Khê Ward – Đà Nẵng) published a post regarding 15 criminal suspects.
- The post included an unblurred, unmasked photograph of a female suspect’s face alongside a comment that objectified her appearance.
As of Oct. 5, the Facebook page has hidden or deleted this comment.
- The page has also disabled all comments on the original post.
- Following the comment’s removal or concealment, Luật Khoa had found no post, statement, or remarks from the police agency addressing the incident.
- The page remains active and continues to publish other posts.
The Original Post: The original Facebook post detailed an investigation by the Đắk Lắk provincial police agency.
- Authorities had opened three criminal cases and charged 15 suspects with fraud involving the misappropriation of property at three beauty clinics located in Buôn Ma Thuột Ward.
- The headline of the police post read: “Đắk Lắk: Several beautiful young women charged with impersonating doctors and defrauding customers at beauty clinics!..”
- The post included an image of a female suspect’s face.
Beneath the image, the official police page commented: “Have to admit, she’s really pretty.” Replies to the police comment included:
- “The one in the white shirt is definitely innocent.”
- “The girl in white must have been wrongly accused—could there be a mistake here?”
- “Innocent, officers.”
- “The three in the middle are innocent.”
- “The three in the middle are people I know. Officers, please give me the detention center’s address so I can bring them food and visit!”
An hour later, the comment was edited to read: “Portraits of the ‘doctors.’”
Social Media Backlash: Numerous social media users criticized the agency’s approach to public communication.
On Oct. 3, the account chloe.hangu*** published a post on platform Threads, stating: “You publicly post someone’s face and then comment on women’s appearances … but hasn’t the government already passed laws on privacy rights?”
- By Oct. 5, the post had accumulated 5,800 likes, 352 replies, 479 reposts, and 724 shares.
- In a subsequent reply, the same user added: “Being arrested isn’t enough—they also want the whole of society to judge, ridicule, and harass you before they’re satisfied???”
Other users echoed this sentiment.
- The account thz*** posted a comment that received 579 likes: “They’d rather edit the comment and deny wrongdoing than ever apologize.”
- This comment received 579 likes.
- Another comment, which received 1,200 likes, read: “Privacy rights in our country exist only on paper.”
Thành Phương wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on October 5, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
