Social Media Platform Licensing in Vietnam

Social network is an online information system that allows network users to use services to store, share, search, and exchange information with each other via the Internet. Social networks include services to create personal websites, forums, online chats, and share images, sounds, etc. In order to prevent illegal acts on social networks, protect the rights and interests of users and ensure that social network operations comply with Vietnamese law, organizations and businesses that own social networking sites must apply for a Social media platform licensing. In the article below, Viet An Law will provide customers with general legal advice on social media platform licensing in Vietnam.

What is a social media platform licensing in Vietnam?

• Social media platform licensing, also known as Social network establishment licensing, is a legal document issued by the Ministry of Information and Communications to businesses and organizations that own social networking sites so that the social networking site can operate legally.
• The subjects granted a Social media platform licensing are organizations and enterprises established under Vietnamese law with functions, tasks or business registration in industries suitable for the services and information content provided on social networks.

Conditions for granting social media platform licensing in Vietnam

Conditions on registered business lines

Applicable to enterprises

Enterprises established under Vietnamese law, with registered business lines consistent with the services and information content provided on social networking sites, and registered business lines posted on the National Enterprise Registration Information Portal.

• Business code 6311: Data processing, leasing and related activities
• Business code 6312: Web portals (excluding journalistic activities): Establishment of social networks

In case the enterprise does not have business code 6311 and business code 6312, it must add an business code to be eligible to apply for a Social network establishment licensing.

Applicable to organizations

The organization must have functions and tasks appropriate to the services and information content provided on social networks.

Conditions regarding personnel

Conditions on personnel responsible for managing information content.

• There must be at least 01 person responsible for managing information content who is a Vietnamese citizen or a foreigner with a temporary residence card issued by a competent authority with a validity of at least 06 months in Vietnam from the time of application submission;
• Has a department to manage information content.

Conditions on technical department personnel.

• Have at least 01 information content manager and 01 technical manager.
• Meet the regulations in Appendix II and Appendix III issued with Decree 27/2018/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decree 72/2013/ND-CP of the Government on management, provision and use of Internet services and online information.

Conditions on domain names

Registered social network domain name and meets the following requirements:

• For organizations and enterprises that are not press agencies, the character string that makes up the domain name must not be the same or identical to the name of the press agency.
• Social networks use at least 01 “.vn” domain name and store information on a server system with an IP address in Vietnam.
• Social networks of the same organization or enterprises cannot use the same domain name.
• The “.vn” domain name must be valid for at least 06 months at the time of licensing application and must comply with regulations on management and use of Internet resources. For international domain names, there must be confirmation of legal use.

Technical conditions

• Establish a technical equipment system capable of meeting the following requirements:

• Social networks must store at least 02 years of information about accounts, login and logout times, user IP addresses and logs of processing posted information;
• Receive and process warnings of information violations from users;
• Detect, warn and prevent illegal access, attacks on the network environment and comply with information security standards;
• Have a backup plan to ensure safe and continuous operation and to overcome incidents when they occur, except in cases of force majeure as prescribed by law;
• Ensure that there is at least 01 server system located in Vietnam, allowing at any time to respond to inspection, examination, storage, and provision of information on all owned social networking sites.

• In addition to ensuring the Technical conditions, the technical system for establishing a social network must be able to meet the following requirements:

• Register and store members’ personal information, including: Full name; date of birth; ID card/citizen identification card/passport number, date of issue, place of issue; phone number and email address (if any). In case the Internet user is under 14 years old and does not have an ID card/citizen identification card/passport, the legal guardian decides to register the guardian’s personal information;
• Verify service users via text messages sent to phone numbers or email addresses when registering to use the service or changing personal information;
• Prevent or remove infringing information upon request from a competent state management agency;
• Set up a mechanism to warn members when posting information with violating content (filter).

Conditions on measures to ensure information safety, information security and information management for social networks

• Have an agreement to provide and use social network services in accordance with regulations and posted on the social network’s homepage;
• Ensure that users must agree to the agreement to use social networking services online in order to be able to use the services and utilities of the social network;
• Have a coordination mechanism to be able to immediately remove violating content. No later than 03 hours from self-discovery or request from the Ministry of Information and Communications or licensing authority (in writing, phone, email);
• Have measures to protect the confidentiality of users’ personal information;
• Ensure the user’s right to decide whether to allow their personal information to be collected or provided to other organizations, enterprises, or individuals.

Procedures for granting social media platform licensing in Vietnam

Step 1: Prepare the application dossier and meet the licensing requirements

Enterprises and organizations directly or through Viet An Law prepare 02 sets of license application dossiers that meet all the conditions for applying for a Social media platform licensing (01 set is submitted to the Ministry of Information and Communications, 01 set is kept at the enterprise or organization applying for the license). To have a basis for preparing the application documents for a Social media platform licensing, enterprises and organizations need to provide the following documents:

• Information on drafting the Application for a Social network establishment licensing:
  • Name of the governing body (if any);
  • Information about the agency, organization, or enterprise establishing the social network:
    • Agency name, head office address;
    • Contact information: Phone; Email.
  • Purpose of establishing social network;
  • Type of social network service (blog creation service, forum, online chat…);
  • Objects and scope of service provision:
    • On the website at the domain name;
    • Through the application distribution system when providing to mobile devices.
  • Management measures;
  • Internet connection service provider;
  • Server location in Vietnam;
  • Personnel responsible for managing information content on social networking sites:
    • Full name;
    • Position title;
    • Contact phone number (landline and mobile)
  • Time for requesting a license.
  • Commitment that the agency, organization, or enterprise establishing the social network complies with regulations on management, provision, and use of Internet services and information on the network.
• A valid copy includes a copy issued from the original or a certified copy or a copy compared with the original of one of the following documents:
  • Enterprise registration certificate;
  • Investment registration certificate;
  • Establishment decision.
  • Or a valid copy of the Certificate or other valid equivalent license issued before the effective date of the Investment Law 2014 and the Enterprise Law 2014.
• Social networking site operation plan.
• Agreement on provision and use of social networking services.
• A valid copy of the Domain name registration certificate or the contract for providing a domain name with the extension “.vn” of the enterprise with a remaining validity period of at least 06 (six) months at the time of the license application.
• Valid copy: Equipment rental contract
• Content manager information: University degree (if any) and personal identification documents of the content manager.
• Technical manager information: University degree in information technology and personal identification documents.
• Demo of the home page and sections and technical solutions to ensure the operation of the social networking site.

Step 2: Submit dossier

Dossiers for a Social media platform licensing are submitted directly or by post to the competent licensing authority: Ministry of Information and Communications – Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information at the address: 9th Floor, Building 115 Tran Duy Hung, Cau Giay, Hanoi; Phone number: 0243.9448.033; Fax number: 0243.9448.036; Email address: bbtwebsite.abei@mic.gov

Step 3: Evaluation of the dossier and license issuance

• Within no more than 30 days from the date of receipt of valid dossiers, the Ministry of Information and Communications shall consider and grant a license.
• In case of refusal, the Ministry of Information and Communications shall issue a written response stating the reasons.

Step 4: Post-licensing activity report

• Implement annual periodic reports and ad-hoc reports as required by competent state management agencies.
• Organizations and enterprises with Social media platform licensing are responsible for submitting reports before January 15 of each year.
• Organizations and enterprises establishing social networks must send reports by post or directly to the competent state management agency at the following address: Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information.

Procedures for amending and supplementing social media platform licensing in Vietnam

Cases requiring modification, supplementation of social media platform licensing

• Organizations and enterprises with licenses to establish general electronic information websites and social networks must carry out procedures to amend and supplement their licenses in the following cases:
• Change the name of the organization or enterprise; change the location of the server; change the responsible personnel; change or supplement the information content and scope of information provision for the general electronic information page; change the type of service and scope of service provision for social networks.

Procedure for modification,supplementation of social media platform licensing

• Organizations and enterprises send a written request stating clearly the content, reasons for amendments, supplements and related supporting documents to the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information – Ministry of Information and Communications, 9th floor, building 115 Tran Duy Hung, Cau Giay, Hanoi.
• Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of valid documents, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall issue a license to review, amend and supplement the issued license. In case of refusal, the licensing authority shall issue a written response stating the reasons.

Renewal of the social media platform licensing in Vietnam

Term of the renewal of the social media platform licensing

• At least 30 days before the license expires, organizations and enterprises wishing to extend the license must submit a written request for extension stating the extension period;
• Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of a valid request, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall review and issue a renewal of the issued license. In case of refusal, the competent licensing authority shall issue a written response stating the reasons.

Number of times the social media platform licensing can be renewed

The license can be renewed no more than 02 times; each time no more than 02 years.

Re-issue social media platform licensing

Cases of re-issuance of social media platform licensing

• When the license is lost;
• When the license is damaged and can no longer be used.

Procedures for re-issuing social media platform licensing

• When a license is lost or damaged and no longer usable, the licensed organization or enterprise shall submit a written request for re-issuance of the license to the licensing authority. The written request must clearly state the license number, the date of issue of the license and the reason for requesting reissuance of the license. In case the license is damaged, a copy of the damaged license must be sent along with it;
• Within 10 working days from the date of receipt of the request, the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information shall consider and re-issue the license. In case of refusal, the licensing authority shall issue a written response stating the reasons.

Relevant questions

How long is a social media platform licensing valid for?

License validity period: The license is granted for a maximum of 10 years and can be renewed no more than 02 times; each time not exceeding 02 years.

Is there a penalty for operating a social network without obtaining a license?

Failure to comply will result in penalties as prescribed in Article 98 of Decree 15/2020/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decree 14/2022/ND-CP as follows:

• A fine of VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 shall be imposed if the application for a Social media platform licensing is not made in case of loss or damage; or if the expired social media platform licensing is used.
• A fine of VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for failure to complete procedures to request amendments or supplements to the content of the social media platform licensing when there are changes or additions to the information in the license.
• In addition, additional penalties include confiscation of exhibits and means of administrative violation for the violation of establishing a social network without obtaining a license and forced revocation or return of domain names due to violations of the above regulations.

In what cases may the social network establishment licensing be suspended?

After obtaining a social network establishment license, organizations and enterprises need to pay attention to the following regulations to avoid violations leading to license suspension.

• Violations of providing distorted, slanderous information, insulting the reputation of an organization, or the honor and dignity of an individual;
• Carry out advertising, propaganda, buying and selling of prohibited goods and services; disseminate prohibited press, literary, artistic works and publications;
• Impersonate organizations and individuals and spreading fake information and false information that infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals.

Above is an analysis of social media platform licensing in Vietnam. If you have any related questions or need advice on legal regulations, please contact Viet An Law for the best support!