Because some film has illegal content and images of the nine-dash line which severely affect cultural security and national sovereignty on the internet, Hanoi voters voiced their petition on the increasing responsibility and careful censorship in appraisal and licensing of foreign films shown online on social networking platforms.
Answering voters’ petitions, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Van Hung stated that pursuant to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 21 of the Cinema Law, all movies distributed in cyberspace in Vietnam must display ratings and warnings according to the Government's regulations.
Moreover, the Minister said that those posting movies on the internet must be responsible before the law for the content and results of film classification. In case the conditions for classifying films are not yet met, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism or an agency authorized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is requested to classify films.
Furthermore, he revealed that according to the Article 12 of the Government’s Decree No. 131/2022/ND-CP on December 31, 2022, those disseminating films in cyberspace can only disseminate films with a film classification license or broadcast decision in accordance with the provisions of the exisiting law.
Films that have not been granted a classification license must be classified according to regulations or must be classified by qualified persons themselves before dissemination. Those who are responsible for classifying the movies must notify the list of films to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism before disseminating films in cyberspace.
The Ministry's leaders also stated that according to the provisions of Clause 5 of Article 21 in the Cinema Law, staff of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism must work hard to check film content, classification and display of popular movies on cyberspace. Last but not least, the Ministry must coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications, the Ministry of Public Security and relevant agencies to implement measures to prevent and handle violations as per the present regulations.
According to Minister Nguyen Van Hung, in 2023 the Ministry issued a decision to establish a team of experts to manage film dissemination in cyberspace who are responsible for checking movie content, classifying movies, and displaying the results of popular movie classification on cyberspace.
As a result, in recent times, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has checked the film content, classified and displayed the results of classifying films that violate the law, have illegal content and images of the illegal nine-dash line affecting Vietnam’s cultural security and national sovereignty.
At the same time, the Ministry has liaised with relevant agencies to handle violations related to the movies including MH370: Chiec may bay mat tich (MH370: The Missing Plane), Huong gio ma di (Go towards the wind).
The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism said the Ministry would continue to propagate and disseminate information to people in addition to the appraisal and issuance of film classification licenses in compliance with the provisions of the current law.
