Vietnam orders ban on popular messaging app Telegram

In a move that Telegram described as unexpected, Vietnam has ordered the country’s telecom service providers to halt use of the messaging app Telegram because it doesn’t cooperate with the country’s telecommunication service providers’ efforts to stop alleged crimes committed by platform users.

According to a report published on the government’s news portal on Friday, the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Ministry of Telecommunications sent letters to internet service providers warning of “signs of law violation” on Telegram.

According to the ministry, internet service providers “should implement measures and solutions to prevent Telegram’s activities in Vietnam.”

The providers were instructed to take action against Telegram and submit a report to the ministry by June 2 according to the letter from May 21.

The government claimed in a report on the app that almost 70% of Vietnam’s 9,600 channels contain “poisonous and bad information,” citing police. The government added that “reactionary activities” were being carried out by groups and associations on Telegram, which included tens of thousands of people.

The government also claimed that some organizations on Telegram had “terrorist” connections to their users, used the app to sell user data, and were involved in drug trafficking.

Vietnam’s hardline government typically appoints swiftly to remove dissent and arrest critics, particularly those who have media following them on social media and social media.

In what critics characterized as the most recent attack on freedom of expression in the communist-ruled nation, new regulations were implemented in Vietnam last year that required platforms like Facebook and TikTok to verify user identities and provide data to authorities.

A representative of Telegram told the Reuters news agency in a statement that the Vietnamese government’s action surprised the business.

“We have received timely responses from Vietnam.” The Telegram representative stated that the request is being processed as of May 27 as of the response deadline.

The decision came after Telegram’s failure to disclose user data to the government as part of criminal investigations, according to a representative from Vietnam’s Science and Technology Ministry.

As of Friday, Vietnam’s Telegram service was still active.

At the beginning of 2025, there were 79.8 million Internet users in Vietnam, and 11.8 million Telegram users, according to the data extraction company SOAX.

With close to one billion users worldwide, Telegram has been involved in international disputes involving security and data breach issues.