In an effort to normalize Internet activities in Vietnam, the cultural security forces have shut down numerous pornographic websites. However, after the closure of “Heavenly Abode”, “Leaf Hut”, and “Virus Love”, it seems merely like “throwing stones into a pond”.
Concerns About Popularity
Never before has the topic of accessing “pornographic forums” spread among students so rapidly and loudly as it does now. Over the past year, these “pornographic forums” have quickly shifted from the Vietnamese diaspora and international students to local youth. The content shared by members is increasingly abundant and “diverse”.
Initially, it was just anonymous figures abroad, but now the volume of Vietnamese pornographic films and images has surged, causing curiosity and a chain reaction among the youth at “ultrasound speed”.
A parent in Dong Da District lamented: “Outside of study hours, my child often asks to go to their room to access the latest news. I’m glad to see my child eager to learn and have actively set up web-blocking software, so I felt at ease. But one time, I happened to go to my child’s room and discovered they were accessing a “pornographic forum”, where mostly young people and students gathered?!”
I shared this story with a friend, who immediately responded: “That’s just a bunch of ‘lost souls’; let me introduce you to a trendsetter…” This was Minh, a student from a well-known university in Hanoi. Minh said: “I used to occasionally visit some foreign pornographic websites, but once I got into a few ‘Vietnamese sex forums’, I became addicted. Watching images of people from my own country, with real names and specific phone numbers, and sharing feelings with hundreds of others is much more appealing…”.
Through Minh, we came across more than ten “Made in Vietnam” pornographic forums currently thriving among students.
Leading among these is viets… This is the largest “sex forum” created and managed by a group of Vietnamese students abroad, collaborating with several admins in Vietnam.
What’s notable about this “forum” is that its homepage promotes creating an interesting playground for young people both domestically and internationally: exchanging study experiences, cultural news, listening to music online, and making friends… Yet hidden within are stories of incest, pornographic images, and films that decent people would not dare to view.
According to a member using the nickname XXXThien…, when viruslove.com was still operational, these two forums were always rivals in terms of the abundance of “products” and update speed. The criterion of “fastest, best” was always touted by the Strongplay-webmaster of viets.
After viruslove.com was shut down, a wave of members flocked to viets…, causing the admins of this forum to scramble.
After some time observing the activities of this forum, we were shocked by its rapid growth. From being an initiative organized by a few young people with the goal of fostering interaction and learning between youth in and outside the country, viets has now transformed into the largest provider of pornographic images in Vietnam, boasting a colossal membership of 19,000.
How to Prevent This?
The Ministry of Public Security has issued a decision to ensure safety and security in the management, provision, and use of Internet services in Vietnam, along with a joint circular on managing Internet agents. However, to find a location that strictly adheres to these regulations among hundreds of Internet shops in Hanoi is like “searching for a needle in a haystack”.
Recently, Internet enthusiasts were shaken by news that dozens of “Vietnamese sex forums” were taken down by some ethical, anonymous hackers, renewing hopes of clearing out the filth from the virtual space. Yet, shortly after that “incident”, more than half of the affected sites resurfaced, continuing to spread chaos on the newly established forums at viets…, iapro…
In response to this issue, the common and sole answer is: we must educate and promote awareness among the youth, so they can absorb the best knowledge of humanity while maintaining the traditional ethics of our nation… This is indeed a challenging problem for families, schools, and authorities… but we must find a solution.
Pham Phuc Hung
