Snapchat is not popular in Vietnam, but it is a well known app for messaging and sharing images with 400 million users worldwide.

The illegal cow-tongue line appears on the satellite map of the Snapchat app. The unit providing map data to Snapchat is OpenStreetMap which is the map service platform mentioned recently in cases related to the image of the cow-tongue line.

Many fanpages, groups and forums on social networks have called on users to boycott Snapchat. Many Vietnamese netizens have also given only one star for Snapchat on app stores.

As of November 7, on Android's Google Play app market, Snapchat's average rating had dropped to 3.5 stars. On Apple's App Store, Snapchat's average score had dropped to 2.8 stars.

Users have also left comments saying that Truong Sa (Spratly Islands) and Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands) belong to Vietnam and requested Snapchat to adjust the image on the map.

VietNamNet raised a question about how to handle the case at a press conference held by MIC recently. In reply, Le Quang Tu Do, head of the Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI), said the watchdog agency has the information and is taking necessary actions to deal with the case.

Snapchat doesn’t have a representative in Vietnam. ABEI has contacted agencies representing US companies and received a reply that Snapchat is not interested in the Vietnamese market and is not thinking of setting up an office here.

“In the worst-case scenario, if failing to contact Snapchat, MIC will use necessary technical solutions to handle this,” Do said.

The struggle with cross-border social network platforms has brought positive results. According to MIC, from July 1 to August 31, 2023, Facebook blocked and removed 674,000 posts with false information and propaganda against the Communist Party of Vietnam and the State.

TikTok removed 64 links that published wrong information with negative content, including four accounts that livestreamed, commented and distorted Vietnamese territorial sovereignty, or shared images of maps with cow tongue line; 19 accounts that regularly published content against the Party and State; and 13 accounts that defamed and insulted Vietnamese leaders.

Google removed 2,343 videos on YouTube and 10 channels which published content against the Party and State containing 22,500 videos.

Trong Dat