Facebook said it was investigating why the #saltbae' hashtag was temporarily blocked on its platform days after a Vietnamese Communist Party official was filmed eating a gold-encrusted steak at the Nusr-Et Steakhouse in London.
To Lam, Vietnam's Security Minister, has faced a barrage of criticism in his home country after a video of him at the Knightsbridge restaurant owned by the Turkish-born celebrity chef Nusret Gokce was circulated on social media.
The tag was blocked worldwide, when a search for the hashtag generated a message saying community standards had been breached, before Facebook made it available once again.
"We've unblocked this hashtag on Facebook and we're investigating why this happened," a representative for Facebook operator Meta said.
Mr Gokce, known to millions of people on social media as Salt Bae, is famed for theatrically seasoning and slicing cuts of meat, which he sells for up to £1,450 ($1,966).
Mr Lam was in the UK as part of the country's delegation for the Cop26 climate change summit.
The incident has left many questioning how such a high-ranking government official allowed himself to be filmed indulging in such expensive food during a Vietnamese clampdown on corruption.
In one Facebook post, Nguyen Lan Thang, who has nearly 150,000 followers, changed his profile picture to a screenshot of the video and pointed out that local media were quiet over the incident.
"Security officers following this account, have you seen the video of minister To Lam eating salt-sprayed beef? Do you know how many months salary you'd have to spend for just one piece of that steak?" Mr Thang wrote online.
Neither Mr Lam nor Vietnam's Foreign Ministry responded to a request for comment.
The original video was removed from Mr Gokce's TikTok account shortly after it was uploaded and further copies were removed from the app for breaching "community standards", Vietnamese TikTok users told Reuters.
"It's not unusual that a government official is super-rich in Vietnam but a minister seen widely opening his mouth to bite a golden steak is shameful," said a customer at one cafe in northern Vietnam who declined to be named, citing safety concerns.
Vietnam is defined as a lower-middle-income country by the World Bank. A minister in the country is paid an official monthly salary of about 16 million dong ($705.47).
The country routinely asks social media companies to censor content it deems to be "anti-state". Last year, Vietnam threatened to shut down Facebook nationwide if it did not remove local political content from its platform.
Facebook declined to comment on whether the Vietnamese government had requested that the latest video be removed.
Vietnam operates one of the largest and most sophisticated online influence networks in South-east Asia.
Mr Lam is one of the most powerful officials in Vietnam, his ministry overseeing both the police and the agencies responsible for suppressing dissent and investigating corruption.
He had been touted as a potential candidate for the presidency in January and has as security minister worked to arrest Vietnamese officials accused of corruption and overt displays of opulence.
Mr Lam last week led a delegation of officials to the grave of Karl Marx in Highgate Cemetery, north London, to "remember the source of the water we drink", the Communist-ruled country's state media reported, citing a Vietnamese proverb about paying respects.
"General To Lam's visit to Karl Marx's grave affirms the Vietnamese people's tradition of 'remembering the source of the water we drink', for the figures who contributed to the direction of a dominated and suppressed nation," a government representative said.
Scores
Bournemouth 0-4 Liverpool
Arsenal 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Burnley 1-0 Brighton
Manchester United 4-1 Fulham
West Ham 3-2 Crystal Palace
Saturday fixtures:
Chelsea v Manchester City, 9.30pm (UAE)
Leicester City v Tottenham Hotspur, 11.45pm (UAE)
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If you go:
The flights: Etihad, Emirates, British Airways and Virgin all fly from the UAE to London from Dh2,700 return, including taxes
The tours: The Tour for Muggles usually runs several times a day, lasts about two-and-a-half hours and costs £14 (Dh67)
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is on now at the Palace Theatre. Tickets need booking significantly in advance
Entrance to the Harry Potter exhibition at the House of MinaLima is free
The hotel: The grand, 1909-built Strand Palace Hotel is in a handy location near the Theatre District and several of the key Harry Potter filming and inspiration sites. The family rooms are spacious, with sofa beds that can accommodate children, and wooden shutters that keep out the light at night. Rooms cost from £170 (Dh808).
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
HAEMOGLOBIN DISORDERS EXPLAINED
Thalassaemia is part of a family of genetic conditions affecting the blood known as haemoglobin disorders.
Haemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that carries oxygen and a lack of it triggers anemia, leaving patients very weak, short of breath and pale.
The most severe type of the condition is typically inherited when both parents are carriers. Those patients often require regular blood transfusions - about 450 of the UAE's 2,000 thalassaemia patients - though frequent transfusions can lead to too much iron in the body and heart and liver problems.
The condition mainly affects people of Mediterranean, South Asian, South-East Asian and Middle Eastern origin. Saudi Arabia recorded 45,892 cases of carriers between 2004 and 2014.
A World Health Organisation study estimated that globally there are at least 950,000 'new carrier couples' every year and annually there are 1.33 million at-risk pregnancies.
THE SPECS
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 275hp at 6,600rpm
Torque: 353Nm from 1,450-4,700rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Top speed: 250kph
Fuel consumption: 6.8L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: Dh146,999
23-man shortlist for next six Hall of Fame inductees
Tony Adams, David Beckham, Dennis Bergkamp, Sol Campbell, Eric Cantona, Andrew Cole, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba, Les Ferdinand, Rio Ferdinand, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Frank Lampard, Matt Le Tissier, Michael Owen, Peter Schmeichel, Paul Scholes, John Terry, Robin van Persie, Nemanja Vidic, Patrick Viera, Ian Wright.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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LAST-16 EUROPA LEAGUE FIXTURES
Wednesday (Kick-offs UAE)
FC Copenhagen (0) v Istanbul Basaksehir (1) 8.55pm
Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v Wolfsburg (1) 8.55pm
Inter Milan v Getafe (one leg only) 11pm
Manchester United (5) v LASK (0) 11pm
Thursday
Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1) 8.55pm
Sevilla v Roma (one leg only) 8.55pm
FC Basel (3) v Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 11pm
Wolves (1) Olympiakos (1) 11pm
CREW
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WORLD RECORD FEES FOR GOALKEEPERS
1) Kepa Arrizabalaga, Athletic Bilbao to Chelsea (£72m)
2) Alisson, Roma to Liverpool (£67m)
3) Ederson, Benfica to Manchester City (£35m)
4) Gianluigi Buffon, Parma to Juventus (£33m)
5) Angelo Peruzzi, Inter Milan to Lazio (£15.7m
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
