Internet freedom remained restricted in Vietnam, as the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) enforced stringent controls on the country’s online environment and punished people for expressing their views online.

• Three of the five active submarine cables that connected Vietnam to the global internet suffered from technical problems for much of the coverage period, meaning connections to foreign servers remained slower or poorer in quality as repairs continued (A1).1
• In February 2025, the Ministry of Public Security assumed control over MobiFone, the country’s third-largest mobile service provider, which had been overseen by the State Capital Management Committee.2 The shift further consolidated the dominance of the security services in the telecommunications sector; the two largest service providers, Viettel and the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), were controlled by the military and the Ministry of Finance, respectively (A4).3
• In May 2025, the Ministry of Information and Communications ordered internet service providers to block Telegram, as authorities alleged that the messaging platform had enabled criminal activity as well as the dissemination of antigovernment content by opposition groups (B1).4
• The government issued an expansive new internet regulation, Decree 147, in November 2024. It imposed strict requirements that obliged service providers to actively search for and remove illegal content on their platforms, confirm user identities with official documents or local mobile numbers, and retain and hand over user data to the authorities with few safeguards against abuse (B3, C4, and C6).5
• Authorities imposed draconian prison sentences on activists and bloggers for their online expression. For example, video blogger Thái Văn Đường was sentenced to 12 years in prison in October 2024 over his criticism of the CPV on social media; he had allegedly been abducted in Thailand and brought back to Vietnam to face charges in April 2023 (C3).6

Vietnam is a one-party state, dominated for decades by the CPV. Although some independent candidates are technically allowed to run in legislative elections, most opposition is banned in practice. Freedom of expression, religious freedom, and civil society activism are tightly restricted. Even by Vietnam’s authoritarian standards, in recent years, and particularly in 2024, the authorities have engaged in one of the widest-ranging crackdowns on dissent in decades.

This report has been abridged for Freedom on the Net 2025 due to ongoing budget constraints. Please consider making a donation to support future editions of this vital resource.

For additional background information, see last year’s full report.