Netflix on Thursday took down the first episode of the docuseries 'MH370: The Plane That Disappeared,' which is about missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, from its streaming platform in Vietnam as the episode contained incorrect information about Vietnam's efforts to search for the plane.

The takedown followed a requirement by the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information under the Ministry of Information and Communications, Le Quang Tu Do, head of the authority, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Thursday.

At present, only Episode 2 ‘The Hijack’ and Episode 3 ‘The Intercept’ of the docuseries are still available on Netflix in Vietnam.

Deputy spokeswoman of the Vietnamese foreign ministry Pham Thu Hang last Thursday stressed that the first episode inaccurately claimed that Vietnam did not cooperate in international efforts to search for the missing plane, sparking frustration among the public in the Southeast Asian country.

Right after the disappearance of the flight MH370 of Malaysia Airlines, Vietnam quickly came up with search and rescue plans, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 

Vietnam then sent ships and planes along with personnel to search for MH370 in its waters with international forces for over a week but it could not find the aircraft.  

The country thus ceased the search and rescue efforts, with the foreign forces required to leave the Vietnamese waters.

The flight MH370 with 239 people on board, including 227 passengers and 12 crew members, went missing en route from Malaysia to Beijing, China on March 8, 2014.

It disappeared from radar less than one hour after take-off.

Malaysia, China, and Australia announced an end to the search for the plane in January 2017. The aircraft has remained missing since.

In October last year, Netflix also removed the South Korean TV drama ‘Little Women’ following a request of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information as the drama violated Vietnam's laws regulating media and cinema for falsifying history, downplaying revolutionary accomplishments, and insulting the Vietnamese nation.

In 2020, American series ‘Madam Secretary’ also caused controversies as a scene mislabeled a shot of Hoi An in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam as ‘Fuling, China.'

Netflix has also removed some scenes in Chinese-produced dramas featuring the illicit ‘nine-dash line’ China resorts to in its claims to nearly all of the East Vietnam Sea.

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