Decree 147/2024 Sets New Rules for Online Platforms in Vietnam

Decree 147/2024 on online platforms changed the rules for almost everyone who publishes, sells, or streams on the internet in Vietnam. Issued on 9 November 2024 and in force from 25 December 2024, the decree replaced the decade-old Decree 72/2013 and its amendments, and it runs to 84 articles across six chapters. It covers internet access, cross-border information services, social networks, online games, web hosting, data centres, and content on mobile networks. For a platform owner, a livestream seller, or simply someone running a busy social media page, the decree sets new duties around identity verification, content removal, and accountability — and it applies to foreign services reaching Vietnamese users just as much as to domestic ones.

Who the decree covers, including foreign platforms

The most important change is scope. Decree 147 reaches beyond Vietnam’s borders. A foreign organisation providing information to users in Vietnam is treated as a regulated cross-border provider if it rents data storage in Vietnam or averages 100,000 or more visits from Vietnam per month over six consecutive months. Once that threshold is met, the provider must notify the authorities of a contact point, inspect and remove infringing content when asked, enter into content cooperation agreements with Vietnamese press agencies when quoting their material, store user information and provide it to the authorities on request, and take child protection measures such as displaying content warnings.

That matters for ordinary users too, because the big global platforms — social networks, video services, app stores — fall squarely in this category. The decree also separates domestic and foreign social networks for the first time. A domestic social network with more than 10,000 monthly visits or more than 1,000 regular monthly users must apply for a licence; smaller ones need only notify the authorities and obtain a confirmation. All social networks must connect to the ministry’s monitoring system for user activity and access statistics.

Identity verification, and the livestream rule

The provision that affects the most people is account verification. Under Decree 147, social networks must verify user accounts with a Vietnamese mobile phone number — or, for users who confirm they have no Vietnamese number, with a personal identification number under the e-identification rules. Crucially, only verified accounts can post, comment, livestream, or share content on social networks. Both cross-border and domestic providers were given 90 days from the decree’s effective date to complete verification of active accounts, a window that closed in late March 2025.

For commercial livestreaming, the bar is higher still: anyone using the livestream feature for commercial purposes must verify their account with a personal identification number, not just a phone number. That single requirement changed the economics of livestream selling in Vietnam, where live video now drives a large share of online shopping. It means one real identity behind each selling account, which makes it much harder to run dozens of anonymous storefronts or to disappear after selling counterfeit goods. Children under 16 are a special case: a parent or legal guardian must register the account using their own information and is responsible for monitoring what the child accesses and posts.

Content removal and account penalties

Decree 147 sets tight deadlines for taking down illegal content. Foreign providers must remove content, services, or applications that violate the law within 24 hours of receiving a request from the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security, or another competent authority. Domestic social networks face the same 24-hour rule for content violating Article 8 of the Law on Cybersecurity 2018. Platforms are also prohibited from using user information for promotion or sharing it with third parties without explicit consent, and social networks may not publish journalistic-style content such as reports, investigations, or interviews without authorisation.

The decree also introduces a strikes system for accounts, pages, groups, and channels. An account with at least five violations within 30 days, or ten violations within 90 days, faces temporary suspension of seven to 30 days, depending on severity and frequency. Accounts posting content that threatens national security, or that have been temporarily suspended three or more times, can be permanently blocked — and the block is lifted only after the violations have been addressed as the authorities require. For a business that depends on a social media page for sales, that makes compliance a commercial necessity, not an abstract legal duty. Practical steps include keeping records of what is posted, training the staff who manage the page, and responding to takedown requests the same day they arrive.

What it means for sellers and small platforms

For a small business selling through livestreams or a social media page, Decree 147 means three concrete changes. First, make sure every account used for selling is verified with the right identity documents — a phone number is no longer enough for commercial livestreaming. Second, treat the page as a regulated shopfront: the products shown must be genuine, the claims made must be accurate, and customer complaints should be handled before they become formal violations. Third, remember that the verification and content rules sit alongside newer requirements: Decree 320/2026 now requires many online accounts to be linked to VNeID, and Decree 13/2023 and the Law on Personal Data Protection govern how customer data is handled. The three instruments fit together as one direction of travel: verified identity, accountable content, and protected data.

One administrative note: the decree names the Ministry of Information and Communications as the supervising authority, but Vietnam’s government restructuring in 2025 merged that ministry into the Ministry of Science and Technology. The rules themselves are unchanged; only the institutional address has moved, and businesses should watch for updated guidance from the merged ministry. Our guide to livestream commerce in Vietnam explains how sellers are adapting their daily operations to this new environment.

What this means

Decree 147/2024 turned Vietnam’s online space from a lightly regulated frontier into a system with named responsibilities: foreign platforms above a clear traffic threshold must register a contact point and remove illegal content within 24 hours; social media accounts must be verified before they can post; commercial livestreamers must verify with a personal identification number; and repeat violations lead to suspension or permanent blocking. For legitimate businesses, the rules are manageable — verify accounts, sell genuine products, respond quickly to complaints — and they reward the sellers who were already doing things properly. The decree’s real message is that anonymity is no longer the default online in Vietnam, and accountability now travels with every account.