Vietnam Orders Technology Firms, Telecom Operators to Store User Data Locally, Set Up Local Offices

Authorities will have the right to issue data collection requests for purpose of investigation and to ask service providers to remove content.

By Reuters | Updated: 18 August 2022 17:18 IST

Vietnam Orders Technology Firms, Telecom Operators to Store User Data Locally, Set Up Local Offices

Authorities will have the right to issue data collection requests for purpose of investigation

Highlights

Foreign firms will have 12 months to set up local data storage office
Vietnam is run by the Communist Party
Vietnam has tightened Internet rules over the past few years

Vietnam's government has ordered technology firms to store their users' data locally and set up local offices, its latest move to tighten cybersecurity rules.

The new rules, issued in a decree on Wednesday, will apply to social media companies like Alphabet's Google and Meta's Facebook, and telecommunications operators, and will take effect on October 1.

"Data of all Internet users ranging from financial records and biometric data to information on peoples' ethnicity and political views, or any data created by users while surfing the internet must be to stored domestically," the decree stated.

Samsung Wins Patent for a Tri-Fold Smartphone With Specialised Barrier Layer for Improved Durability

Authorities will have the right to issue data collection requests for purpose of investigation and to ask service providers to remove content if it is deemed to violate the government's guidelines, the decree added.

Foreign firms will have 12 months to set up local data storage and representative offices after receiving instructions from the Minister of Public Security, and will have to store the data onshore for a minimum period of 24 months, according to the decree.

Two tech firms contacted by Reuters, Google and Meta, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Kerala to Take Steps to Educate Children on Cyberspace Risks, CM Says

Vietnam is run by the Communist Party, which maintains tight media censorship and tolerates little dissent. It has tightened Internet rules over the past few years, culminating in a cybersecurity law that came into effect in 2019 and national guidelines on social media behaviour introduced in June last year.

Do the Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4 offer enough over last year's models? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.