On May 23, a representative of the global messaging application Telegram stated that they have received an official notification from Vietnam's telecommunications management agency regarding the completion of a procedure related to new regulations in the telecommunications service field. Telegram committed to processing the request and will respond before the deadline of May 27.
Telegram's spokesperson, Mr. Remi Vaughn, said the platform was surprised by the information about potentially being blocked in Vietnam, while emphasizing that all legal requirements from the authorities have been implemented on time.
Telegram is currently one of the most popular messaging platforms globally, with an estimated 1 billion users. In Vietnam, according to data from Datareportal (February 2025), approximately 36.5% of domestic internet users use this application.
However, Telegram is facing the risk of being blocked in Vietnam for allegedly violating multiple current legal regulations. In a document sent to telecom operators on May 21, the Telecommunications Department of the Ministry of Information and Communications proposed implementing technical measures to prevent Telegram's operations in Vietnam, and requested a report of results before June 2.
According to the document, the reasons include: Telegram being used to spread harmful information and documents with subversive content; numerous closed groups with tens of thousands of participants serving bad purposes; the platform being exploited for fraudulent activities and personal data sales. Additionally, Telegram is accused of not complying with telecommunications service notification procedures, not providing contact information to management agencies, and not fulfilling content control obligations for violations as requested by authorities, thus breaching the Cybersecurity Law and related regulations.
Despite this, as of the afternoon of May 23, the Telegram application was still operating stably in Vietnam and could be downloaded normally from app stores like App Store and Google Play.
