Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) and Hoang Sa (Paracel) Islands are removed from China's map on Facebook. (Photo: vov.vn)

Le Quang Tu Do, deputy director of Vietnam’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information (ABEI), said on Monday afternoon the US tech giant had complied with a request to stop identifying the islands as parts of China. A Facebook representative said it was a technical error, and Facebook will fix it on its live map.

The map's erroneous labeling of Paracel and Spratly islands as parts of China outraged many people in Vietnam, where Facebook is the most popular social network, with more than 58 million active accounts.

Vietnam has consistently affirmed that it has adequate legal and historical evidence to prove its sovereignty over the two archipelagoes. It has repeatedly asserted that all activities violating Vietnam's territorial sovereignty flout international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).