Child accounts would not be permitted to post content, comment, interact or react. — VNS/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — A proposal is being considered to bar people under the age of 16 from posting, commenting or reacting on social media.

At a public consultation on Thursday, the draft decree drew pushback from major platforms and business groups.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism gathered regulators, tech firms and international businesses to discuss amendments to Decree No. 147/2024/NĐ-CP aimed at strengthening child safety online.

Under the draft, minors would not be allowed to self-register accounts and would instead use a parent’s or guardian’s details. Parents would be tasked with supervising content and screen time.

Platforms operating in Việt Nam would have to identify child users, deliver age-appropriate content, set the highest privacy protections for child accounts and proactively block harmful material.

Child accounts would not be permitted to post content, comment, interact or react, according to the draft.

Meta representative Nguyễn Thảo said an outright interaction ban could strip platforms of behavioural signals needed for age-detection and push children to lie about their age to access standard accounts, removing built-in safeguards.

Meta recommended high default privacy, content filtering, time limits, restricting messages from strangers and parental supervision tools instead.

The company also criticised a proposed 120-day deadline to close or lock accounts of users under 16, calling it too short for large-scale technical changes and warning of errors or over-compliance that could lock adult users. 

The company cited Australia’s 12-month preparation period for age rules and urged replacing the shutdown mandate with continuous improvements to age-detection and periodic reporting to authorities.

TikTok Việt Nam chief Nguyễn Lâm Thanh voiced concerns over a total ban on posting and interaction, saying the rule should align with national goals on protecting and developing children online. TikTok pointed to its 'Family Pairing' feature linking parent and child accounts and asked for at least six months to modify products and infrastructure if required.

The US-ASEAN Business Council urged clarity between Article 23, which outlines management of under-16 accounts, and Article 37, which would require closing or locking such accounts after 120 days. 

It called for dropping the shutdown provision in favour of account management, privacy, content controls, limiting contact from strangers and empowering parents, while recognising social media’s educational and social benefits.

Lê Quang Tự Do, head of the Authority of Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information and a member of the drafting team, said limits on children’s interactions were driven by data on cyberbullying and online scams harming minors’ mental health. 

He acknowledged concerns that restricting interactions could reduce age-identification signals and suggested marking child accounts at registration when a parent or guardian signs up.

Do said the law needs firm timelines to ensure enforcement but added the 120-day window could be revised to a more reasonable six to 12 months after further study.

Officials said feedback from the workshop will inform the final draft, which aims to balance child protection and the responsibilities of families, businesses and regulators with children’s rights to access information, learn and participate in the digital environment. — VNS