Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, Vingroup, has announced plans to sue 68 individuals and organizations for allegedly spreading “false information.”
At home, this may look like business as usual: powerful companies enlisting the Ministry of Public Security to intimidate critics under the 2018 Cybersecurity Law. Abroad, however, the move risks looking like little more than a lawsuit stunt, a way to silence uncomfortable truths about Vingroup’s debt-heavy finances.
The company’s “fake news” allegations stem not from rumor but from Vingroup’s own public disclosures. Analysts and commentators base their assessments on audited financial statements submitted to Vietnamese regulators or filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
And those figures are by any measure alarming. In 2025, three different debt-to-equity (D/E) ratios surfaced:
- 4.47 – in Vingroup’s 2024 audited accounts.
- 4.23 – in a leaked memo reportedly from the State Bank of Vietnam.
- 1.8 – suddenly cited in state media, coinciding with Vingroup’s lawsuit announcement.
The first two figures are official. The last looks like public relations spin designed to project financial health just as the company threatens perceived critics with lawsuits.
International alarm bells
Global institutions have already raised red flags. In January, credit rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch downgraded the debt of Vinhomes, Vingroup’s most profitable unit, to junk status, citing its close ties to loss-making VinFast, the conglomerate’s electric vehicle-making subsidiary.
Reuters noted that Vingroup’s market capitalization has halved since VinFast’s NASDAQ debut; that foreign investors, including BlackRock, DWS and SK Group, have cut or exited stakes; and that borrowing costs are rising as bond yields climb.
These are not whispers on social media. Asia Times and Bloomberg have also reported the warnings from the world’s most credible agencies and investors. The timing of the “68 lawsuits” suggests three motives:
- Capital pressure: With VinFast burning through nearly $3 billion a year, negative media coverage threatens access to international loans and equity financing.
- Narrative control: Critical analysis abroad can influence banks and funds weighing whether to extend credit.
- Shareholder reassurance: Announcing lawsuits signals strength to domestic investors, even if company fundamentals are unchanged.
Yet lawsuits do not pay down debt. Only operational improvements can.
Theater of control
The lawsuit campaign quickly descended into farce.
A day after state media announced that Vingroup had filed complaints against 68 individuals and organizations, domestic outlets simultaneously reported that 11 YouTube channels had “apologized”, including to Vingroup chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, for spreading false information and that 65 channels had deleted more than 120 clips.
Yet the reality was more surreal: nearly all of the 11 “apology” channels had been created only in July or August 2025, with their content entirely AI-generated. Each video delivered the same oddly uniform script, with robotic voices urging viewers to “trust state media” as the only legitimate source of information.
Indeed, the state’s propaganda arms have rushed to Vingroup’s defense. Le Quang Tu Do, director general of Vietnam’s Authority of Broadcasting, Television and Electronic Information, told state media that his agency had “received Vingroup’s request” concerning the lawsuits and that regulators would consider working with international platforms such as Meta, YouTube and TikTok “to handle content violating the law.”
By any narrative, Vingroup’s empire depends on huge and heavy leverage. By Q2 2025, the company’s liabilities had reached $31 billion, equivalent to 86% of total assets, with $19.5 billion of that wrapped up in short-term debt.
Daily interest costs are around $3.2 million, according to the company’s accounts. Core profits remain weak, while reported gains are often padded by vague “other income” entries, which many have reported include direct injections from chairman Vuong himself.
VinFast, the EV-making centerpiece of Vuong’s global ambition, remains a particular drain on the wider conglomerate, losing over $37 trillion dong (about $1.4 billion) in the first half of 2025. The company’s US expansion collapsed after cars failed safety standards. The Nasdaq listing saw over 90% of its shareholder value wiped out in about two months.
Against this backdrop, threatening lawsuits against analysts, journalists, commentators and others look less like corporate governance and more like desperation.
Inside Vietnam, critics can be silenced with police visits or prosecutions using broad and vague laws that are habitually abused to favor party over public interests. Outside Vietnam, such legal tactics are likely to fall flat.
Dangerous distraction
Courts in the US and Europe are unlikely to accept frivolous defamation suits against commentary based on audited financial reports. Worse, international investors may read the lawsuits as confirmation of fragility, a company fighting perception because it cannot fix performance.
Vingroup’s “68 lawsuits” reveal the true challenge facing chairman Vuong: course-correcting a loss of public trust. Litigation may buy time, but without transparent reporting and tangible profitability, Vingroup risks accelerating the very investor exodus it hopes to prevent.
At home, threats can suppress dissent. Abroad, they look like legal theater. If VinFast cannot deliver real results, no lawsuit – whether filed against 68 or 680 perceived critics – will restore confidence.
Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, widely known as Mother Mushroom, is a Vietnamese blogger, human rights advocate, and former prisoner of conscience. She is the founder & executive director of WEHEAR, a 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to empowering women, supporting exiled activists and advancing independent human rights reporting.