Facebook has removed 159 accounts whose posts are meant to defame Vietnamese leaders and spread anti-government propaganda, as requested by Vietnam, Minister of Information and Communications Truong Minh Tuan said Friday.

The ministry has tasked its Authority of Broadcasting and Electric Information with asking Internet giants such as Facebook and Google to pull content Vietnam deems ‘toxic’ off their platforms.

Facebook, the world’s largest social network, has removed 107 fake accounts, 394 shared links that advertise illegal services and products, 159 accounts created mostly to defame Vietnamese leaders or to disseminate anti-state information, Tuan told Friday’s meeting.

In the year to date, Google has also deactivated some 4,500 “toxic” Youtube videos, whose content is either ‘fake news’ or anti-Vietnamese government, following a request by Vietnam, the minister added. 

“Vietnam is among countries whose requests have been well complied with by Google,” Tuan underlined.

The minister also stressed that Vietnam has become one of the pioneering countries in implementing measures to regulate global giant service providers such as Google and Facebook.

Tuan said illegal activities on social networking sites have become highly sophisticated today, with their forms changing constantly, making it hard to detect ‘toxic’ content.

This is particularly worrying when some forces tend to use foreign platforms to disseminate ‘toxic’ information against the government, he added.

Tuan also told the event that one of the ministry’s main goals next year is to complete guidelines and regulations regarding foreign companies providing Internet-based content in Vietnam. 

“There should be more initiatives to encourage domestic companies to provide online content services,” he added.

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