A Facebook group for youth venting about family issues and conflicts has been blocked in Việt Nam
The Latest: On Oct. 5, Meta announced that the Facebook group “Con ghét bố mẹ” (“I Hate My Parents”), which boast s nearly 400,000 members, had been blocked in Việt Nam at the Ministry of Public Security’s request.
- Visitors attempting to access the group saw a Facebook notice instead of its content: The notice stated:
“This group isn’t available in Việt Nam. This is because we complied with a legal request from Việt Nam’s Ministry of Public Security to restrict this content.”
- This is the standard notice Meta displays when restricting content in response to a government request.
Legal authority: The legal authority of this action stems from Point b, Clause 2, Article 25 of the Cybersecurity Law No. 116/2025, which took effect July 1.
- This provision requires domestic and foreign businesses providing online services in Việt Nam to:
“Prevent the sharing of information, delete information, and remove services and applications containing content that violates this law no later than 24 hours after receiving a request from the specialized cybersecurity protection force under the Ministry of Public Security.”
Although Meta’s notice names the ministry and confirms the use of this legal authority, the specific violation that prompted the blocking of “Con ghét bố mẹ” remains entirely unidentified.
About the Group: The public Facebook group was created Jan. 17, 2021.
- Its description states: “Come here to talk and share your sadness about family life when you hate your parents.”
- The majority of the posts were written by young people, including many minors, who used the platform to describe conflicts with their parents.
- By April 2026, the group had more than 2,100 members.
After the first news article about the group appeared on Sept. 26 reporting 40,000 members, membership surged by the hour.
- The group reached more than 58,000 by the evening of Sept. 28, about 160,000 by the evening of Sept. 29, nearly 200,000 by midday Sept. 30, and roughly 398,000 by the afternoon of Oct. 5.
Prior to the block on Oct. 5, police in Xuân Phú commune, Đồng Nai, and Quảng Ninh police had already issued warnings about the group.
From Social Media: On the evening of Oct. 5, numerous Threads users criticized the Ministry of Public Security’s action.
The account flucenr*** wrote: “The ‘I Hate My Parents’ group, with nearly 400,000 members, has now been blocked in Việt Nam […] A place where children could talk and express their feelings was disrupted by the very people called ‘parents,’ which only further proves why this group existed.”
- More than 17 hours after its publication, the post had received over 6,800 likes, 378 comments, 517 reposts, and 273 shares.
The prevailing sentiment in the responses contrasted the government’s action against the group with the inadequacies in institutional child protection efforts.
- One comment, which received 1,300 likes, stated: “Meanwhile, repeated negligence by the 111 hotline and its useless responses to children’s cries for help get buried [receive little engagement]. Nobody cares.”
- Another comment, which received 659 likes, added: “A space like this group that exposes the reality of domestic violence gets silenced, while efforts to protect victims remain weak, negligent, and halfhearted.”
Thành Phương wrote this news article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on October 6, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.
