Vingroup's Legal Blitz Won't Restore Its Credibility

Yet lawsuits do not pay down debt. Only operational improvements can.

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.

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.

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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.

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