French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed Vietnam’s proposed restrictions on social media use by children, despite the communist state’s extensive record of censorship, political imprisonment, and the alleged mistreatment of dissidents.
‘Thanks for joining the movement,’ Macron wrote on X on Friday while sharing a Reuters report on Hanoi’s draft decree. His endorsement came days after French lawmakers approved a ban on social media access for children under 15, one of the president’s flagship measures.
The endorsement prompted significant outrage, as critics highlighted that Vietnam is a one-party communist state where independent media and political parties are prohibited. Human Rights Watch says party-controlled courts routinely imprison critics under broadly worded provisions covering ‘propaganda against the state’ and the ‘abuse of democratic freedoms’.
It reported that Vietnam held more than 160 political prisoners in 2025 and arrested at least 40 more people for criticizing the government. Amnesty International separately recorded at least 43 arrests and prosecutions under vague security laws that year, including cases involving journalists and online commentary.
Rights organizations have also documented allegations of torture and severe ill-treatment in detention. ACAT-France reports beatings, prolonged isolation, and inadequate food and medical care. At the same time, FIDH and the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights cited extensive evidence of torture, deaths in police custody, and violence against political prisoners.
The replies under the post were similarly sharply critical, accusing Macron of endorsing censorship in an authoritarian communist state, mocking the president for joining a censorship trend associated with China and Russia rather than leading a legitimate child-protection initiative.
The contrast is especially striking because seven rights organizations wrote directly to Macron before his May 2025 visit to Vietnam, urging him to place press freedom and human rights alongside commercial interests. His latest post did not refer to that record.
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