The Ministry of Information and Communications will temporarily
suspend operations or shut down unlicensed websites, a senior official
said on Saturday.
Deputy Minister of Information and Communications, Truong Minh Tuan,
told the online newspaper Vietnam Plus that the suspension will remain
in force until the websites received their licences.
He said that the Department of Information and Communications and the
Broadcasting and Electronic Information Authority would take action
against websites that had not yet received their licences.
In fact, many websites were operating by copying stories from other
sources without permission and presenting them as original work, Tuan
said.
The youth can be misguided by websites that provide inaccurate and/or
false information as well as culturally decadent content, he said.
“The punishment would depend on the level of violations and there will be no exceptions”, the Deputy Minister said.
The latest crackdown comes on the heels of a popular website, Haivl.com, being shut down permanently last Friday.
The Ministry of Information and Communications has transferred the case to the police for further investigation.
It also imposed a fine of VND205 million (US$9,700) on the company
managing the website for several violations including unlicensed
operation and provision of unlicensed online games, historical
distortions and cultural misdemeanors.
Tuan said that his ministry had already taken tough action against
several websites for providing wrong information and violating other
regulations.
In August, the ministry imposed fines totaling VND387 million
($18,400) on four websites for providing inaccurate and false
information.
It also issued a three-month ban and a fine of VND55 million ($2,600)
on the 2sao.vn website run by VietNamNet for wrong citations and
slander.
VNS/VNN