The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has described Việt Tân as "a peaceful organization advocating for democratic reform".

Việt Tân sees the strength and resources of the Vietnamese people as the impetus for achieving political change and restoring civil rights.

[11][12] On November 17, 2007, three Việt Tân members, US citizens Nguyen Quoc Quan, a mathematics researcher, and Truong Van Ba, a Hawaiian restaurant owner, and Frenchwoman Nguyen Thi Thanh Van, a contributor to Việt Tân's Radio Chan Troi Moi radio show, were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City.

On December 12, 2007, after weeks of protests and appeals by U.S. lawmakers and international pro-democracy movements, Vietnam released American citizen Truong Van Ba shortly after the U.S. ambassador Michael Michalak demanded to see evidence of terrorism or other charges to justify their detention.

[15]On March 12, 2008, chairman of Việt Tân, Đỗ Hoàng Điềm, appeared before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee's subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs along with Nguyen Quoc Quan's wife to appeal to lawmakers to confront the issue.

[18] After the Australian consulate in Vietnam intervened in the case, Hong Vo was released from prison on October 21, 2010, and immediately expelled from the country without the possibility for her to ever return.

[20] During the trial, the defendants were denied access to a lawyer, and members of the US Congress, led by Representative Ed Royce, wrote a letter asking for their release.

[20] On April 17, 2012, Nguyen Quoc Quan was arrested again at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

[25] 14 activists, many associated with the Roman Catholic Redemptionist movement, arrested in 2011 after attending Việt Tân training in Thailand, were convicted of subversion after a two-day trial in Vinh, in Nghệ An Province, and sentenced in January 2013 for periods ranging from 3 to 13 years.

[27] In April 2012, the organization obtained a decree entitled Decree on the Management, Provision, Use of Internet Services and Information Content Online that was drafted by the Vietnamese government that would ask internet companies to censor blogs, release blogger information and possibly house data centers in Vietnam for the purpose of censorship and regulation of social media.

The program was first launched as a Facebook application that allowed other users to suggest their own newsworthy articles and references to a main feed that was replicated to many other websites.

On November 14–15, 2009, Việt Tân organized a seminar on "Digital Activism: A Tool for Change in Vietnam" held at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C.[29][30] Incidentally, in the same week, the Vietnamese government decided to block Facebook through its internet firewall.