An announcement of a nationwide cash gift program in Vietnam led to the immediate and widespread failure of the country’s national digital identity app, VNeID, leaving millions of citizens unable to access the system required to claim the funds. The technical collapse highlights the immense challenge of scaling digital public infrastructure to handle sudden peaks in demand.
The disruption began on Thursday evening, just moments after Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh confirmed a VND100,000 (US$3.90) cash distribution for all citizens to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution. As citizens rushed to the app, they were met with error messages stating, “System under maintenance. Please try again later.”
A System Overwhelmed by Demand
The user experience quickly devolved from minor inconvenience to widespread frustration. Many who bypassed the initial error screen found the app would freeze during password entry or facial recognition scans. “My family has five members, and we tried to log into our accounts on five devices, but none of them worked,” said Minh Hai, a resident of Hanoi’s Dai Mo Ward, echoing a common sentiment across the nation.
By Friday morning, login access was partially restored, but core functions remained broken. Attempts to access the Social Security section, which is necessary for the payment, resulted in a “failed to connect to system” error. The Politburo-approved program requires citizens to have a level-2 authenticated VNeID account linked to a bank account, with a tight deadline for the Ministry of Finance to arrange distribution by August 29.
A Recurring Challenge for Digital Infrastructure
This incident is not the first time the VNeID system has buckled under pressure. On June 30, the platform experienced a similar major outage when a deadline for updating residency information caused a massive surge in user traffic. These recurring failures raise questions about the system’s capacity as Vietnam pushes for complete population coverage by the end of the year.
Officials from the Ministry of Public Security, which manages the app, acknowledged the issue. They noted that while account verification with partner banks is normally fast, the process “could be slowed down if many people are using the system simultaneously.” The technical problems emerge even as Vietnam’s digital identity program gains international recognition, having recently provided support for Laos’s launch of a national digital ID system. The government has not yet provided a timeline for when the system’s issues will be fully resolved.
Source: VnExpress Economy
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By Cass Kennedy
