Last updated May 24, 2025

Vietnam’s technology ministry has ordered telecommunication service providers to block the messaging app Telegram for not cooperating in combating alleged crimes committed by its users, in a move that Telegram said was surprising.

In a document, dated May 21 and signed by the deputy head of the telecom department at the technology ministry, telecommunication companies were ordered to take measures to block Telegram and report on them to the ministry by June 2.

The ministry was acting on behalf of the country’s cybersecurity department after police reported that % of the Telegram channels and groups in Vietnam violated the law, citing fraud, drug trafficking and among the illegal activities carried out through the app.

The ministry asked telecommunication service providers the document said.

After publication, the government confirmed the measures against Telegram on its web portal.

a company representative told newsmen.

the Telegram representative said.

A technology ministry official said the move followed Telegram’s failure to share user data with the government when asked as part of criminal investigations.

The Vietnamese police and state news outlets have repeatedly warned people of possible crime, fraud and data breaches on Telegram channels and groups.

Telegram, which competes globally with other social media apps such as Facebook’s WhatsApp and WeChat, was still available in Vietnam on Friday.

Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party maintains tight media censorship and tolerates little dissent. The country has repeatedly asked companies like Facebook, Google’s YouTube and TikTok to coordinate with authorities to stamp out content deemed ‘toxic’, including offensive, false and anti-state content.

Telegram is accused of not applying laws that require social media to monitor, remove and block information that violates the law, according to the document.

Also, the document said that according to information from the police, .

The free-to-use platform with close to 1 billion users worldwide has been involved in controversies across the world on security and data breach concerns, including in France, where its founder, Pavel Durov, was briefly detained last year.

REUTERS/Christopher Ojilere