In-depth
Unlicensed websites to be shut down
  • | VNA | October 28, 2014 08:12 PM
The Ministry of Information and Communications will temporarily suspend operations or shut down unlicensed websites, a senior official said on October 25. 


The Ministry of Information and Communications will temporarily suspend operations or shut down unlicensed websites (Source photo: luattriminh).

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 website, Haivl.com, being shut down permanently on October 24.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has transferred the case to the police for further investigation.

It also imposed a fine of 205 million VND (9,700 USD) 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 387 million VND (18,400 USD) on four websites for providing inaccurate and false information.

It also issued a three-month ban and a fine of 55 million VND (2,600 USD) on the 2sao.vn website run by VietNamNet for wrong citations and slander.

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