Vietnam Influencer Advertising Law 2026: Rules for Brands and KOLs

1. What is Vietnam's influencer advertising law in 2026?

There is no single influencer statute. Vietnam's influencer advertising law is a stack of texts that work together, and a brand running creator campaigns needs to know which layer covers which question.

We checked each document below against its official text on the Government Gazette (congbao.chinhphu.vn), the Government document portal (vanban.chinhphu.vn) and the legal database Thuvienphapluat (thuvienphapluat.vn), as of October 2026.

• Advertising Law 16/2012/QH13, amended by Law 75/2025/QH15: in force 1 January 2026; adds Article 15a and rewrites Articles 19, 20 and 23
• Decree 342/2025/ND-CP detailing the Advertising Law: issued 26 December 2025, in force 15 February 2026
• Consumer Protection Law 19/2023/QH15 and Decree 55/2024/ND-CP: define who is an influencer
• Decree 87/2026/ND-CP on administrative penalties in culture and advertising: in force 15 May 2026
• Circular 12/2026/TT-BVHTTDL on superlative words such as 'best' or 'number one': in force 5 July 2026
• E-commerce Law 122/2025/QH15 and Decree 248/2026/ND-CP: in force 1 July 2026, covering livestream and affiliate selling
• Decree 253/2026/ND-CP on personal income tax: withholding rules from 1 July 2026

2. Who counts as an influencer under the law?

Two definitions matter. The amended Advertising Law (Article 2, clause 8) defines a 'person who carries advertising products' as someone who directly advertises, recommends or endorses products, goods or services online, or advertises by wearing, hanging, attaching, painting or using them for profit. That covers almost anyone posting paid product content.

Article 15a then adds extra duties for an 'influencer under consumer protection law'. Decree 55/2024/ND-CP, published on the Government's policy portal, defines an influencer as an expert, a reputable person or a person who attracts social attention in a specific field, who is sponsored in any form by a business to use their image, advice or recommendations to promote products. It includes people with a significant following on media, and people whose accounts qualify for advertising or selling programmes on digital platforms.

In practice, a KOC with an affiliate showcase on TikTok Shop or Shopee who receives a fee, free product or commission can fall inside that definition. We advise brands to treat every paid or gifted creator as an influencer for compliance purposes.

KOC marketing: the complete guideInfluencer crisis management

3. What does Article 15a of the Advertising Law say?

Article 15a was added by clause 9, Article 1 of Law 75/2025/QH15. It has three parts. Clause 1 gives the person carrying the ad a right: the advertiser must provide truthful, complete and accurate information about the business, the product and the documents relating to advertising conditions.

Clause 2 sets duties for everyone who carries advertising: comply with consumer protection rules and other rules on information about product features and quality; meet tax obligations on advertising income; provide documents about the ad content when a competent authority asks; and bear legal responsibility if the content does not meet the content requirements of Article 19. Those who advertise online must also follow the relevant parts of Article 23.

Clause 3 adds two duties for influencers under consumer protection law. Point a: verify the reliability of the advertiser, check documents related to the product, and, where they have not used or do not clearly understand the product, not introduce it. Point b: announce the advertisement immediately before and during the advertising activity.

4. How must influencers disclose advertising in Vietnam?

Disclosure now comes from three places, and a campaign should satisfy all of them at once. Article 15a(3)(b) requires the influencer to announce the ad immediately before and during it. Article 23(2)(dd) of the amended law requires social media users who advertise to mark advertising or sponsored content so it is distinguishable from their other content, and Article 23(2)(a) says online ads need clear identifying signs in numbers, text, symbols, images or sound. The Consumer Protection Law 2023 (Article 22, clause 3) also requires influencers to tell consumers in advance that they are sponsored.

The law does not prescribe exact words. Our standard brief therefore asks for three layers so the disclosure is visible before and during the content: a spoken line at the start, an on-screen text label that stays visible, and the label in the caption. For LIVE, the host repeats it when new viewers join and when a new product is introduced.

• Spoken at the start: 'This video is an advertisement for [brand]' in the creator's own words
• On-screen label for the whole video, in Vietnamese, readable size
• Caption label in the first line, not hidden after hashtags
• Platform tools such as a branded or commercial content toggle, where available
• LIVE: repeat the announcement at intervals and with each new product

Creator brief checklist

5. What must influencers verify, and what should brands provide?

Because influencers must check the advertiser and the product, brands that send a complete document pack get approved and posted faster. Missing documents now give a careful creator a legal reason to say no.

Article 15a(3)(a) also means the creator must actually use or understand the product. Ship samples early enough for real use, and keep a record that the creator received them.

• Business registration of the advertiser (and of the distributor, if different)
• Product legal documents: for cosmetics, the product notification receipt
• Quality documents or test results supporting each claim in the brief
• Approved claim list: what can and cannot be said
• Any required warnings and how they must appear
• Proof of shipment and receipt of samples, with dates

Paying Vietnamese creators from abroad

6. What content rules apply to influencer ads?

Article 19 as amended requires ad content to be truthful, accurate and clear, and not misleading about a product's features, quality, uses or effects. Where a note, recommendation or warning is required, it must be complete, clear and easy to see, with text in a contrasting colour no smaller than other text in the ad, and read at the same speed and volume as the rest.

Article 8 lists prohibited acts. Clause 10, as amended, bans comparing your product with another business's product of the same type without legal documents to prove it. Clause 11 restricts words such as 'best', 'only' or 'number one'. Circular 12/2026/TT-BVHTTDL, in force 5 July 2026 according to the summary on the Thai Nguyen provincial legal education portal, clarifies that similar words in Vietnamese or foreign languages that claim leadership, uniqueness or absoluteness are covered, and that the ad must show the number and date of the supporting document.

For creators this means no 'best sunscreen in Vietnam' or 'better than brand X' lines unless legal proof exists and is shown correctly. Put those phrases on the 'do not say' list in every brief.

7. Which products need special care in influencer content?

Article 20(4) as amended lists special products that need valid documents before they can be advertised. Influencer campaigns in these categories need a legal check before the brief goes out.

• Cosmetics: must have a cosmetic product notification
• Food, food additives and nutrition products for children up to 36 months: registered or self-declared product announcement, plus the law's conditions
• Medical examination and treatment services: practising licence or operating licence
• Medical devices: circulation number or import licence where required
• Medicines: follow pharmaceutical law
• Household and medical insecticides and disinfectants: registration certificate
• Veterinary drugs, plant protection products, fertilisers and seeds: their own certificates

Beauty influencer marketing in VietnamK-beauty KOC seeding in Vietnam

8. Do brands need a written contract with every influencer?

Yes, in effect. Article 6 as amended states that cooperation between parties in advertising activities must be carried out through an advertising contract under the law. A chat message confirming a fee is weak evidence of who was responsible for what.

Article 23(3) adds duties for everyone advertising online, including creators: comply with laws on advertising, cybersecurity, personal data, consumer protection and child protection; register and pay tax on advertising revenue; do not place ads next to illegal content; do not cooperate with accounts or pages that authorities have publicly announced as violating the law; and remove illegal content on request. Article 23(7) sets a deadline of 24 hours to block or remove violating ads after a request from a competent authority.

• Contract clause: creator confirms receipt and use of the product before posting
• Clause: exact disclosure wording and placement
• Clause: approved claims only; brand supplies supporting documents
• Clause: takedown within 24 hours if an authority requests it
• Clause: tax details and who withholds
• Clause: usage rights if the content will be used in ads

KOL and KOC contract checklistUsage rights and whitelisting

9. What are the fines under Decree 87/2026?

Decree 87/2026/ND-CP on administrative penalties in culture and advertising was issued on 27 March 2026 and took effect on 15 May 2026, according to the Government portal (vanban.chinhphu.vn). Article 51 covers influencers' duties in advertising. We checked the article text on Hethongphapluat and the summary by FDVN law firm.

Article 6 says these amounts apply to individuals, organizations pay double, and the maximum fine for one advertising violation is 100 million VND for an individual and 200 million VND for an organization. Article 51 also lists remedies: removing the ad, recalling goods or stopping the service and handing over illegal profits from sales in certain cases, and a public written apology. Separately, Article 56 fines advertising online without clear identifying signs at 30 to 40 million VND.

• 40-60 million VND: not verifying the advertiser's reliability; not checking product documents; announcing the ad incompletely
• 60-80 million VND: not announcing the ad at all before and during it
• 80-100 million VND: introducing a product the influencer has not used or does not clearly understand
• Remedies: removal, recall or service suspension with surrender of illegal profit in some cases, public apology

10. What changed for livestream and affiliate selling in July 2026?

The E-commerce Law 122/2025/QH15 and Decree 248/2026/ND-CP took effect on 1 July 2026, as the Ministry of Industry and Trade confirmed at its dissemination conference on 3 July 2026. They add duties on top of the Advertising Law whenever a creator sells through LIVE or affiliate links.

Platforms must verify a livestream host's identity electronically before the host can sell (Article 22) and keep LIVE images and audio for at least one year. Sellers must give hosts documents proving business conditions and product quality before the LIVE (Article 23). Hosts must not give false or misleading information about uses, origin, quality, price, promotions or warranty, and may refuse to work with sellers who do not supply the documents (Article 24). Affiliate marketers must provide identity information to the affiliate service provider and remove links to illegal goods (Article 26).

Livestream selling in VietnamTikTok Shop Vietnam guideVietnam e-commerce law for livestream and affiliate

11. How does tax fit into influencer compliance?

Article 15a(2)(a) and Article 23(3)(a) both tie advertising to tax: creators must declare and pay tax on advertising income. On the payer side, Thuvienphapluat's summary of Decree 253/2026/ND-CP (Articles 50, 58 and 61) states that, from 1 July 2026, an organization or individual paying remuneration of 5 million VND or more per payment to a resident individual without a labour contract, or with one under three months, must withhold 10% personal income tax before paying. Below that amount, withholding applies when the individual asks.

Collect tax codes when the creator confirms, record withholding in the same place as fees and commissions, and confirm the treatment with your accountant, especially for payments from abroad.

Withholding tax on KOC payments

12. Brand compliance checklist for influencer campaigns

This is the checklist we run before any paid or gifted creator content goes live. It turns the law into steps a campaign team can actually follow.

• Claim pack: every claim in the brief matched to a document
• Disclosure: spoken, on-screen and caption wording fixed in the brief
• Do-not-say list: superlatives, comparisons, medical-style claims
• Category check: special products have valid documents (Article 20)
• Contract: advertising contract with disclosure, claims, takedown and tax clauses
• Product use: samples shipped early; receipt and use recorded
• Approval: drafts reviewed against the claim pack before posting
• Live check: posted URL, label visible, product tag correct
• Records: brief, documents, drafts, approvals and posts archived per creator
• Takedown plan: who removes content within 24 hours if asked

Content approval workflow

13. Example: a Korean cosmetics brand running a compliant KOC campaign

Example: a Korean serum brand sells in Vietnam through a distributor that holds the cosmetic product notification. It books 20 KOCs on TikTok and Instagram.

Before outreach, the distributor's team prepares the claim pack: the notification receipt, the ingredient list and the test summary behind 'hydrating' and 'suitable for sensitive skin'. 'Number one serum' is moved to the do-not-say list because no qualifying certificate exists. Each KOC signs an advertising contract, receives the serum three weeks before posting, and confirms use in writing. The brief fixes the opening line and on-screen label. Drafts are approved against the claim pack, and the agency logs each live post with a screenshot of the visible label. Fees above 5 million VND per payment are paid net of 10% withholding.