Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade reports that more than 13,700 shops were removed from domestic e-commerce platforms in 2025 for selling counterfeit, banned or untraceable goods. Across Shopee, TikTok Shop, Lazada and Tiki the same year, sales reached 429 trillion VND, up 34.8% on 2024. Both numbers were issued in praise.

Inside that surface, Shopee Vietnam was midway through Tiếp sức doanh nghiệp Việt 2026, a programme to train roughly 100,000 sellers in livestream technique, booth management and data analysis. The brochure described it as ecosystem investment.

The brochure for the 100,000 and the dossier for the 13,700 describe one surface.

Vietnam’s market-management force ran more than 27,500 e-commerce inspections in 2024, handled 23,400 violations and recovered 372 billion VND. Director Trần Hữu Linh now requires the major platforms to sign cooperation commitments and handle infringing stores promptly. The phrasing assumes the platform can identify the listing. Sellers render brand names as “Cha nel” or “Gu.ci” to slip past automated filters; a string match can be defeated by a space.

The seized stock makes the channel concrete. The Prime Minister directed a three-month counterfeit crackdown from 15 May to 15 August 2025. The window produced a Saigon Port container of MLB, Hugo Boss and Armani Exchange counterfeits worth over 17 billion VND, and a Mong Cai border raid yielding 1,720 long-sleeved T-shirts bearing Chanel, Dior and Loewe trademarks alongside 3,200 pairs of “Crocs” labelled Made in Vietnam. The same report names Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop as the resale channel. Without a verified seller, the platform’s only enforcement partner is the customs warehouse.

Shopee has now been nominated to the USTR Notorious Markets List for an eighth time since 2018. The 2025 entry cites the growing volume of counterfeits and the platform’s inability to act on repeat infringers. Vietnam’s answer is the Law on E-Commerce, in force from 1 July 2026, which requires seller verification through the national VNeID system. One identity now does two jobs: it lets the platform withhold tax, and it names the seller behind a counterfeit listing.

That is the part the brochure does not describe. The surface that trains 100,000 sellers in livestream technique is the same one from which 13,700 shops had to be pulled. Eight years of USTR nominations is not a teething problem. Compliance is not arriving as a feature. It is arriving as restitution, owed back to the brands the surface let through.