Vietnam drafts read-only social media for under-16s

Vietnam’s culture ministry has unveiled a draft decree that would allow users under the age of 16 to keep their social media accounts but strip them of the ability to post, comment, or react.

The proposal places significant technical and administrative burdens on foreign platforms. Services such as Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube would be required to verify user ages and register accounts for children using a parent or guardian’s details. Companies would also need to proactively detect and block content involving violence, pornography, gambling, drugs, and suicide, while applying the highest privacy protections to these accounts.

Deputy Minister Phan Tam outlined the plan on Thursday, framing it as a protective measure. “The primary objective is not to ban or excessively restrict children’s access to social media, but rather to ensure that when children use social media services, they are placed in an age-appropriate environment,” he said.

For European policymakers and tech executives, the Vietnamese model offers a distinct contrast to approaches closer to home. France’s parliament approved a ban on social media access for under-15s on Tuesday, while Britain is weighing its own restrictions. Australia implemented a blunt under-16 ban in December. Vietnam’s strategy is the outlier: it preserves access while silencing the user.

The commercial challenge for platforms lies in execution. The draft does not specify what technical measures companies must use to separate a 15-year-old from a 16-year-old. This is the same verification gap that has undermined similar legislation globally. When Australia enacted its ban, testers creating fictional teenager accounts found that most major services never asked for proof of age.

Enforcing a read-only mandate once a child is logged in presents further uncharted difficulties. For US tech giants, building the parent-linked registration infrastructure demanded by Hanoi requires substantial investment. This is compounded by the fact that Vietnam is not a clean