One year into his rule, regime's leader To Lam continues his all-out war on independent journalism

 

RSF | 01.08.2025

One year ago, To Lam – a leader of Hanoi’s crackdown on independent media – was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, becoming the most powerful man in the country. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urges the international community to increase pressure, particularly economic pressure, on the Vietnamese leader to end his systematic repression of press freedom.

3 August 2025 marks one year since To Lam became General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Since then, he has pursued the CPV’s repression of journalism, ensuring Vietnam remains among the worst-ranked countries in the world in the RSF World Press Freedom Index, currently placing 173rd out of 180 countries and territories.

To Lam is one of the key figures behind the CPV’s strategic muzzling of independent journalism. Before rising to the top post, he headed the Ministry of Public Security from 2016 to 2024.  This regime body became the central instrument of repression against journalists, as exemplified by the 2020 arrest of journalist Pham Doan Trang, an RSF Press Freedom Award laureate, who was later sentenced to 9 years in prison for “anti-state propaganda” — a purely political charge.

"Since his appointment at the head of the Vietnamese regime a year ago, To Lam has continued the policy of systematic repression against independent media that he implemented as Minister of Public Security. At least 38 journalists are currently detained in Vietnamese prisons, often in inhumane conditions, simply for doing their job. RSF urges the international community to urgently condition its economic negotiations with Hanoi on the release of these journalists."

Cédric Alviani
RSF Asia-Pacific Bureau Director

 

To Lam: Executor of Vietnam’s media crackdown on the press

1 - More than 70 journalists arrested

Since 2016, under To Lam’s influence, more than 70 Vietnamese journalists have been imprisoned, often in life-threatening conditions, and 38 are still behind bars. One emblematic example is freelance journalist Truong Huy San, also known by his pen name Huy Duc, who reported on abuses of power by high-ranking officials and was sentenced to 30 months in prison in February 2025.

2 - Transnational repression targets dissent 

The Vietnamese regime’s crackdown also extends overseas. In one of many such cases, Truong Duy Nhat, a journalist working with Radio Free Asia (RFA), was abducted in Thailand in 2019. He was forcibly sent to Vietnam and, in 2020, sentenced to ten years in prison on fabricated charges.

3 - Total control over state media

Since becoming head of the CPV last year, To Lam has launched sweeping reforms of state-run media aimed at further consolidating the regime’s control over information. These reforms include a drastic reduction in the number of State media channels and increased centralisation of content around the regime's propaganda narratives. 

4 - Censorship expanded

Vietnam’s regime, which legally defines media as the “voice of the Party,” has intensified its efforts to control online speech under To Lam’s influence. In late 2020, following threats to block Facebook, the platform admitted to restricting 2,200 pieces of content in Vietnam at the government’s request — mostly posts accused of spreading “anti-state propaganda.”

5 - A repressive apparatus inspired by China

Vietnam’s repressive system increasingly mirrors that of China. In 2018, under To Lam’s leadership, the Ministry of Public Security spearheaded a cybersecurity law designed as a powerful tool for online censorship, closely modelled on legislation introduced in China the year before. Following its authoritarian neighbour’s example, Vietnam has also deployed cyber-armies such as the Steering Committee 35, made up of thousands of agents tasked with spreading state propaganda and silencing critical voices online.

 

 

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