1. Freedom of speech in the Vietnamese Constitution.

Freedom of speech is one of the fundamental rights of citizens, as stated in Article 25 of the 2013 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Specifically, as follows:

Citizens have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, access to information, assembly, association, and demonstration. The exercise of these rights is regulated by law.

This proves that freedom of speech is a fundamental right of citizens, but at the same time it also emphasizes that the exercise of this right must comply with legal regulations in order to ensure social order and safety and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the state, organizations and individuals.

2. Limits of freedom of speech and violations.

Although freedom of speech is a citizen's right, taking advantage of freedom of speech to infringe upon the interests of the State, organizations, individuals or to harm national security and social order and safety is a prohibited act. Common violations are as follows:

• Providing false, distorted, or slanderous information that infringes upon the interests of the State, organizations, or individuals.
• Insulting the honor and dignity of others through defamatory statements, comments, or actions.
• Inciting violence, causing hatred between groups of people or distorting history, denying revolutionary achievements.
• Unauthorized disclosure of state secrets, private life secrets or personal information.
• Disseminate reactionary content against the State.

The above acts not only affect individuals and organizations but also affect social order and national security.

3. Administrative penalties for violations of freedom of speech in cyberspace.

Pursuant to Article 99 of Decree 14/2022/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decree 15/2020/ND-CP stipulating the penalty for violations of regulations on electronic information pages:

1. A fine of from VND 5,000,000 to under VND 10,000,000 shall be imposed for providing incomplete or inaccurate information on the name of the organization managing the electronic information page, the name of the governing body (if any), contact address, email, contact phone number, and the name of the person responsible for managing the content on the homepage of the electronic information page.
2. Fines from 10,000,000 VND to under 20,000,000 VND for the following acts:

1. Providing or sharing links to information on the Internet that contains content that violates the provisions of law;
2. Propaganda, incitement of violence, obscenity, depravity, crime, social evils, superstition, destruction of national traditions and customs;

3. A fine from VND 20,000,000 to under VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

Providing false information, distorting, slandering, or insulting the reputation of an organization or the honor and dignity of an individual;

1. Posting, broadcasting, or using images of Vietnam maps that do not fully represent or incorrectly represent national sovereignty;
2. Advertising, promoting, trading in prohibited goods and services;
3. Impersonating the websites of other organizations or individuals;
4. Posting or broadcasting journalistic, literary, artistic works or publications without the consent of the intellectual property owner or without permission for circulation or with a decision to prohibit circulation or confiscate.

4. Additional penalties:

Confiscate exhibits and means of administrative violation for violations specified in Clause 3 of this Article.

5. Remedial measures:

1. Forced removal of links to false or misleading information, information that violates the law for violations specified in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article;
2. Forced revocation or forced return of domain names due to violations in Clauses 2 and 3 of this Article.

Pursuant to Article 101 of Decree 14/2022/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decree 15/2020/ND-CP regulating violations of regulations on responsibilities for using social networking services; electronic information pages established through social networks:

1. Fines from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 for taking advantage of social networks to perform one of the following acts:

1. Providing or sharing fake information, false information, distorting, slandering, or insulting the reputation of an agency, organization, or the honor or dignity of an individual;
2. Providing and sharing information that promotes bad customs, superstitions, obscenities, depravity, and is inconsistent with the nation's traditions and customs;
3. Provide and share detailed information describing acts of killing, slashing, accidents, horror, and horror;
4. Providing or sharing fabricated information, causing panic among the people, inciting violence, crime, social evils, gambling or serving gambling;
5. Providing or sharing press, literary, artistic, or publication works without the consent of the intellectual property owner or without permission for circulation or with a decision to prohibit circulation or confiscate;
6. Advertising, propagating, sharing information about prohibited goods and services;
7. Providing and sharing images of Vietnam maps that do not represent or are not true to national sovereignty;
8. Providing or sharing links to information on the Internet containing prohibited content.

2. A fine of VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed for disclosing information on the list of national secrets, personal privacy secrets and other secrets that are not yet serious enough to warrant criminal prosecution.
3. Remedial measures:

Forced removal of false or misleading information or information that violates the law due to violations specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

4. Criminal penalties for violating freedom of speech.

In addition to the above-mentioned administrative sanctions, those who abuse freedom of speech to infringe upon the interests of the State, individuals and organizations may also be prosecuted for criminal liability.

According to Clause 1, Article 155 of the 2015 Penal Code, the crime of Humiliating others can be subject to a warning from VND 10,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 or a non-custodial reform sentence of up to 3 years. Depending on the severity of the violation, the offender may be subject to more severe penalties if it falls under the cases specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 155, specifically as follows:

2. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 03 months to 02 years:

a) Committing the crime 2 times or more;

b) For 2 or more people;

c) Abusing position and power;

d) For people on official duty;

d) For those who educate, raise, care for, or treat you;

e) Using computers or telecommunications networks, electronic methods to commit crimes;

g) Causing mental or behavioral disorders to the victim with a body injury rate of 31% to 60%

3. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 02 to 05 years:

a) Causing mental or behavioral disorders to the victim with a body injury rate of 61% or more

b) Make the victim commit suicide.

According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 156 of the 2015 Penal Code, the crime of Slander can be fined from VND 10,000,000 to VND 50,000,000, sentenced to non-custodial reform for up to 02 months or sentenced from 03 months to 01 year. Depending on the severity of the violation, the offender may be subject to more severe penalties if falling under the cases specified in Clauses 2 and 3, Article 156, specifically as follows:

2. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punishable by imprisonment from 01 year to 03 years:

a) Organized;

b) Abusing position and power;

c) For 02 people or more;

d) For grandparents, fathers, mothers, people who teach, raise, care for, educate, or treat you;

d) For people performing official duties;

e) Using computer networks or telecommunications networks, electronic means to commit crimes;

g) Causing mental or behavioral disorders to the victim with a body injury rate of 31% to 60%;

h) Slandering another person of committing a very serious or especially serious crime;

3. Committing a crime in one of the following cases shall be punished by imprisonment from 03 to 07 years:

a) Because of a despicable motive;

b) Causing mental or behavioral disorders to the victim with a bodily injury rate of 61% or more;

c) Make the victim commit suicide.

Pursuant to Article 331 of the 2015 Penal Code, the 2017 Penal Code stipulates the Crime of Abusing Democratic Freedoms to Infringe upon the interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals, specifically as follows:

1. Anyone who abuses the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of belief, religion, freedom of assembly, association and other democratic freedoms to infringe upon the legitimate interests of the State, the legitimate rights and interests of organizations and individuals shall be subject to a warning, non-custodial reform for up to 03 years or imprisonment from 06 months to 03 years.

2. Committing a crime that affects social security, order and safety shall be subject to imprisonment from 02 years to 07 years.

Freedom of speech is an important and fundamental right of citizens, but it is not an absolute right. Any abuse of freedom of speech to infringe upon the rights and interests of the State and the honor and dignity of individuals will be strictly punished according to the law. Therefore, each individual must be responsible when speaking, ensuring accuracy and compliance with the law.

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