Le Khanh, who provides Facebook-related services in HCM City, said ads like ‘call girl booking’ and unhealthy livestream apps still exist on Facebook because the platform relies on AI to censor ads.

“Professional advertisers in Vietnam can easily fool the censorship regime using AI by changing keywords, blurring sensitive images and inserting content into videos.” he said.

He believes that it is impossible to remove dirty ads with AI, and that only real humans do this. However, using real men for the work will cost a lot of money and time because of the huge volume of information posted daily on Facebook.  That is why the social network has missed a lot of toxic and swindling ads.

Nguyen Minh Hoang, one of those making money online (MMO), also thinks that it is difficult to remove toxic ads on Facebook. Facebook has been trying to ‘filter’ the toxic content, but to no avail.  Moreover, Vietnamese MMOs are good at circumventing the laws to avoid sanctions. Soon after social networks apply a new policy to block toxic ads, Vietnamese professional advertisers are able to break the barriers.

He went on to say that if Facebook truly wants to stop toxic ads, it must have workers  in the Vietnamese market, rather than rely on AI, or run the network from another country. There should also be coordination between watchdog agencies and Facebook, or the problem wont be solved.

Observers say Facebook, Google and even Zalo, are considered the stepping stone for scams to implement their plan to swindle users. Swindlers use platforms as the bridge to reach customers and then re-direct them to Telegram where the final purpose is made.

Asked why scams choose Telegram to conduct swindling, Vu Ngoc Son, CTO of NCS, said this is because the platform allows big groups of many members, free of charge; and Telegram doesn’t bear censorship; messages are encrypted; and the history of all users is erased.

Also, Telegram supports API (application programming interface), thus helping software developers to program the software to interact with users or chat groups automatically.

Because of the features, scams can generate a lot of ‘bogus’ accounts which act as decoys and provide false information, thus making users feel that the playing field is bustling and many people can earn money or get prizes. After successfully cheating victims, they quietly leave and erase all the content.

While Vietnamese mobile network operators are covered by the Law on Communications, and are put under the control of agencies and observe regulations on identification and contracting, OTT apps like Telegram do not have to follow any regulations.

For example, users can create new accounts arbitrarily, with no requirement for authentication with ID cards, and they can send spam messages to many people without having to be sanctioned.

The most serious problem is that data are stored overseas, which means that agencies’ requirements on tracking down violators and requirements on cooperation with the platform are not always satisfied.

Regarding pornographic livestream and gambling apps, according to a representative of a payment service firm, to eliminate the illegal services, banks and e-wallets need to identify final users.

In principle, e-wallets must verify users, and require chip-based ID cards and 3D facial authentication, while data must be synchronized with the police’s database (C06).

It is necessary to tighten control over the limits on deposits ans withdrawals. It would be better to set a limit of VND100 million a month for deposits and VND20 million for withdrawals. If someone wants to use more money than allowed, he must sign a contract like a company signs with an intermediary payment firm, and with authentication.

Moreover, users’ accounts must have other transaction behaviors, except withdrawals and deposits. 

Pham Anh Tuan, director of the State Bank of Vietnam’s (SBV) Payment Department, said that in order to prevent frauds, SBV has requested credit institutions to check data and be sure that the names of clients, dates of birth and ID card numbers stored at the banks coincide with the national database on population. The deadline to do so is the end of 2023.

Le My