License to start a social media platform in Vietnam

License to start social media platform in Vietnam

Social media platform in Vietnam refers to online platform starts in Vietnam where users can share information and connect with virtual communities through text, video, photos, and other content

I. Conditions for granting a license to start a  social media platform in Vietnam

Companies are granted a license to start a social media platform when they meet the following conditions:

1. Being an company established under Vietnamese law and registered to do business in the field related to social media platform.

2. Having an organization and personnel that meet the following conditions:
a. Requirements on Human Resources who are responsible for managing information content:
- Having at least 01 staff responsible for managing information content who is a Vietnamese citizen or foreigners who have a temporary residence card issued by a competent authority with a validity of at least 06 months in Vietnam from the time of submitting the application;
- Having a department to manage information content.
b. Requirements on Technical staff: There must be at least 01 staff on information content management and 01 staff on technical management.

3. Haing a domain names registered to start a social media platform in Vietnam that meet the following regulations:
a. For organizations and companies that are not press agencies, the character string that creates
the domain name must not be the same or similar to the name of the press agency.
b. General information websites and social media platfomrs must use at least 01 domain name
“.vn” and store information on a server system with an IP address in Vietnam.
c. General information websites and social media platfomrs of the same organization or enterprise must not use the same domain name with the same character string (including
secondary domain names, for example: forum.vnn.vn, news.vnn.vn are domain names with different character strings).
d. Domain names must comply with regulations on management and use of Internet resources. For international domain names, there must be confirmation of legal use of the domain name.

4. Meet the following technical requirements:
a. Store for at least 02 years information about accounts, login time, logout, IP address of users and logs of information processing
posted;
b. Receive and handle warnings of information violations from users;
c. Detect, warn and prevent illegal access, forms of attacks on the network environment and comply with standards to ensure information security;
d. Have a backup plan to ensure safe and continuous operation and remediate when incidents occur, except in cases of force majeure as prescribed by law;
e. Ensure that there is at least 01 server system located in Vietnam, allowing at any time to respond to the inspection, examination, storage, and provision of information on all electronic information pages and social media platfomrs owned by organizations and
enterprises as prescribed in Points a, b, c, d and dd of this Clause;
f. Register and store personal information of members, including: Full name; date of birth; ID card number/citizen identification card/passport, date of issue, place of issue; telephone 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 as prescribed in this Point to
show permission and take legal responsibility for such registration;
g. Verify service users via text messages sent to their phone numbers or email addresses when registering to use the service or changing
personal information;
h. Prevent or remove information that violates the provisions of Clause 1, Article 5
of Decree No. 27/2018/ND-CP when requested by a competent state management agency;
i. Establish a mechanism to warn members when posting information with violating content (filter).

5. Take measures to ensure information safety, information security and information management according to the following provisions:
a. Have an agreement to provide and use social media platform services in accordance with the
provisions in Point d, Clause 2, Article 23, Decree 27/2018/ND-CP and be posted on the home page of the social media platform;
b. Ensure that users must agree to the agreement to use social media platfomr services online in order to be able to use the services and utilities of the social media platform;
c. Have a coordination mechanism to be able to immediately remove content that violates Clause 1, Article 5 of Decree No. 27/2018/ND-CP no later than 03 hours after self-discovery
or upon request from the Ministry of Science and Technology or the licensing authority
(in writing, by phone, email);
d. Have measures to protect the confidentiality of private information and personal information of users;
e. Ensure the right of users to decide whether to allow the collection of their personal information or to provide it to other organizations, businesses, and individuals

II. Application for License to Start A Social Media Platform in Vietnam

Company submitting application for license to start a social media platform in Vietnam  include:

1. Application for license to start a social media platform (standard form No. 25 in Appendix I issued with Decree No. 27/2018/ND-CP)

2. A valid copy of one of the following documents: a) Certificate of business registration, b) Certificate of investment registration, c) Charter of operation (for organizations and associations). The decision to establish or the Charter must have functions and tasks appropriate to the field of information exchange on social media platfomrs.

3. An operation plan with the signature and seal of the head of the organization or company applying for the license, including the main contents: Types of services; scope and field of information exchange; human resource organization plan, technology, information management, finance to ensure the operation of the social media platfomr is in accordance with the provisions in Point b, Point c, Point d, Point dd, Clause 5, Article 23 of Decree No. 27/2018/ND-CP and Clause 1, Clause 2, Article 2 of Decree No. 150/2018/ND-CP; information on the location of the server system in Vietnam.

4. The agreement on the provision and use of social media platform services must have at least the following contents: Contents prohibited from being exchanged and shared on social media platfomrs; rights and responsibilities of social media platform service users; rights and responsibilities of organizations and enterprises starting a social media platfomrs; mechanisms for handling members who violate the agreement on the provision and use of social media platfomr services; warning users of risks when storing, exchanging and sharing information on the network; mechanisms for resolving complaints and disputes between social media platfomr members and organizations and enterprises starting the social media platform or with other organizations and individuals; publicizing whether or not to collect and process personal data of service users in the agreement on the provision and use of social media platform services; policies for protecting personal information and private information of social media platform service users.

III. Procedures for Granting a License to Start a Social Media Platform in Vietnam

1. Company wishing to be granted a license to start a social media platfomr shall submit an application to the Ministry of Science and Technology (Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information).

2. Within no more than 30 (thirty) days from the date of receipt of a valid application, the Ministry of Science and Technology shall consider and issue a license. In case of refusal,
the Ministry of Science and Technology shall issue a written response stating the reasons.

3. Submission method: Company may submit the application in person, online or via postal service.

Source:
1. Decree No. 27/2018/ND-CP dated March 1, 2018 on management, provision and use of internet services and online information
2. Decree No. 150/2018/ND-CP dated November 7, 2018 on investment and business conditions and administrative procedures in the field of information and communications.

Lawyer Vietnam Law Firm, Vietnamese lawyer, attorney at law, solicitor, advocate, barrister.