And now, in the digital age, artificial intelligence (AI) is developing strongly, bringing many breakthrough achievements but at the same time leading to many unpredictable consequences, including the problem of false and toxic information. Revolutionary journalism is shouldering a new and challenging mission: "protecting ideological borders" in cyberspace.
1. On December 26, 2022, the People's Court of An Giang province sentenced Nguyen Nhu Phuong (31 years old, residing in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province) to 5 years in prison for the crime of "Making, disseminating, and propagating information, documents, and items aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam".
According to the indictment, on October 4, 2021, the Department of Information and Communications of An Giang province discovered that 3 Facebook accounts "Nguyen Phuong (Phuong Hang Nhat)", "Hoang Dung", "Pham Minh Vu" posted a lot of information, documents, images, audio files with many followers, likes, comments with distorted content; inciting against the Party and State; insulting the honor and dignity of individuals and organizations... negatively affecting the security situation, order, epidemic prevention and control work of the whole country in general and in An Giang in particular.
On January 12, 2022, the Investigation Security Agency of Tuyen Quang Provincial Police issued a Decision to prosecute a criminal case and prosecute the accused Le Manh Ha - residing in Kim Phu commune, Tuyen Quang city for the crime of making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as prescribed in Article 117 of the 2015 Penal Code. The subject has repeatedly compiled, posted and shared inaccurate information on Facebook pages, Youtube... articles and video clips with bad and toxic content, aiming to propagate, defame the government, insult the leaders of the Party and State, and spread fabricated news to cause confusion among the people.
Politburo member and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visits the display of digital technology equipment and applications at the first Digital Transformation Conference of the People's Public Security Sector in 2022. Photo: VNA
It is worth mentioning that subjects like Le Manh Ha and Nguyen Nhu Phuong who disregard the law and take advantage of social networks to oppose the Party and the State are not isolated, and are even following an increasingly serious trend. According to information from the Ministry of Public Security, from the beginning of 2022 to mid-May 2023, the Ministry of Public Security has prosecuted and investigated 572 cases related to the dissemination of false information on the internet and social networking sites, prosecuted 63 cases with 68 defendants, administratively sanctioned 955 subjects, called, questioned and warned 1,500 subjects. The above figures show that the phenomenon of fake, toxic information, distorted information, and incitement from hostile reactionary subjects and political opportunists spreading on social networking sites is extremely worrying.
“There is a proliferation of videos with absurd and sensational content on social networks to attract viewers to make money. Some people even try to find ways to become famous on social networks, including committing illegal acts, producing offensive and uneducational content, falsifying information, inciting violence, defaming and slandering the government” – General, Minister of Public Security To Lam emphasized at the National Assembly Standing Committee forum on August 10, 2022.
In a report sent to National Assembly delegates during the meeting, the Ministry of Public Security said that recently, the situation of spreading fake news and untrue news on the Internet and social networks has been alarming and is becoming more complicated and increasing. Subjects have thoroughly exploited the features of social networks to propagate, slander, and incite against the Party, the State, and authorities at all levels, causing information disruption... Common tricks include creating personal social network accounts impersonating leaders of the Party, the State, heads of authorities at all levels, and celebrities; editing technical parameters of time files to post fake news and untrue news to guide public opinion; taking advantage of "hot" events and "issues that attract social attention" to create fake information and deceive public opinion. Some people even try to find ways to become famous on social networks, including committing illegal acts, producing offensive and uneducational content, falsifying information, inciting violence, defaming and slandering the government...
Obviously, social networks today are an effective means of providing information and communication, but they are also tools that hostile and reactionary forces take advantage of to increase activities against the ideological foundation of our Party.
2. In the face of such a worrying situation, the head of the Public Security sector said that the Ministry of Public Security has directed the police of units and localities to strengthen the monitoring and scanning of information on social networks, promptly detect and strictly handle individuals and organizations in the area that spread fake, reactionary, malicious, and illegal news.
The Ministry of Public Security also coordinated with the Ministry of Information and Communications to deploy many synchronous legal, economic and technical solutions to force cross-border service providers to comply with Vietnamese law; thereby controlling, restricting, preventing and promptly removing fake, bad, toxic and offensive information on social networks.
In the coming time, the Ministry of Public Security will proactively follow the developments of the situation, especially sensitive and complicated issues and cases that are at risk of being exploited by subjects to create, disseminate and share fake information and false news; proactively review, evaluate and identify "key information sources" to urge, guide and coordinate the search, fight, handle and strictly punish acts of deliberately posting fabricated and false information on social networks, acts of distorting the guidelines, policies and laws of the Party and State, distorting history, defaming the leaders of the Party and State, sabotaging the country's international relations...
Previously, in response to the problem of malicious information, the Cyber Security Law was approved and officially took effect from January 1, 2019, clearly stating prohibited acts in cyberspace.
On April 15, 2020, Decree No. 15/2020/ND-CP of the Government was issued, which clearly stipulates the level of administrative penalties for acts of spreading fake information, causing public confusion on social networks. In addition to fines, the Decree also stipulates remedial measures such as forcing the removal of false or misleading information or information that violates the law due to the above violations.
Thus, the legal framework for punishing acts of spreading bad and toxic information is quite adequate. However, in the fight against the problem of bad and toxic information, false information, and distortion of policies and laws, which is becoming increasingly complicated, the efforts of the relevant agencies are not enough. There needs to be "support" from many sides, in which the press is considered the core force.
3. A big question that will be raised is, what will the press agencies do in a war where the enemy is always numerous with countless "keyboard heroes" who are always enthusiastic about debate, comment in an extreme way, always like to express their opinions; always ignorant about "virtual power" in cyberspace, at the same time have the advantage of being hidden with "virtual" characteristics, easy to be anonymous, spread quickly in the vast and limitless space like cross-border platforms, not to mention hiding and slipping under many names?
But as the ancients used to say, if you want to win a hundred battles, you must first understand their tricks.
Looking at the cases of reactionary and malicious information that have been punished, the authorities said that hostile forces often focus on sabotage on some key issues such as: Spreading distorted arguments, denying Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought, claiming that Marxism-Leninism is outdated, backward, opposing Ho Chi Minh's thought to Marxism-Leninism; focusing on attacking the leadership role of the Communist Party of Vietnam, attacking the organizational and operational principles of the Party, especially the principle of democratic centralism, causing suspicion and dividing the people from the Party; taking advantage of some limitations and weaknesses in the management and operation of society by authorities at all levels to focus on defaming and attacking the government; Distorting, belittling, and denying the achievements of the country's innovation under the leadership of the Party...
Grasping their tricks and knowing their minds, as said by comrade Nguyen Trong Nghia - Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Central Propaganda Department, the press has proactively criticized and refuted false and distorted arguments about the situation of the country as well as strategies, plans and policies for national development; exposed and pointed out the plots of hostile forces to attract and incite people to gather and file complaints in large numbers (especially focusing on important times, such as: preparing for the National Party Congress, National Assembly elections; when our Party and State have to decide on important issues, etc.). A number of magazines such as: Communist; Political Theory, Propaganda, Philosophy, Ethnology, Religious Work, Ethnic Studies, etc., along with key political press agencies and a number of newspapers belonging to ministries, branches, social organizations, etc. have focused on explaining and clarifying many theoretical and practical issues on the issues of ethnicity, religion, democracy, human rights; affirming humane, reasonable, and emotional policies that respect freedom of belief and religion and ensure human rights in Vietnam; clearly exposing the tricks and schemes of hostile forces that take advantage of social networks and foreign press to disrupt information, negatively affecting the reputation of the Party and State of Vietnam; analyzing, affirming, and proving the correct legal basis of Vietnam - a sovereign nation in prosecuting, temporarily detaining, and trying a number of individuals who have violated the law, such as: Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, Can Thi Theu, Pham Thi Doan Trang, etc.
Thus, the press has done well for a long time, but in order to make the fight to protect the Party's ideological foundation more effective, the work of criticizing and refuting those false arguments must be more proactive, creative, flexible, and sharp.
Besides, in the fight against the hidden evil forces in cyberspace, what the press needs to do is not only to "destroy" the "red alert zones " but equally important is the work of creating, maintaining and spreading "ideological green zones" , establishing a border to firmly protect the "ideological frontier". That "green zone" is positive information, objectively and honestly reflecting the clear achievements of the renovation process that our Party has initiated for nearly 40 years, demonstrated by positive changes in all aspects of the material and spiritual life of the majority of Vietnamese people; it is the undeniable reality that the Vietnamese people are increasingly developing comprehensively, the decisions and policies of our Party, State and Government are all for the people, taking people as the center, always for the vulnerable, leaving no one behind...; Vietnam's increasingly enhanced position and prestige in the international arena, and its election to the UN Human Rights Committee, demonstrate the international community's recognition of Vietnam's policies, efforts and achievements in ensuring better and better people's rights in all areas...
To do that, journalists must reach out to every corner of real life, witnessing the positive changes in all aspects of the country's political, economic and social life. "In propaganda, you should pay attention to one more thing: we must always respect the truth. Only by telling the truth will our propaganda be heard by many people. We should not imitate countries that propagate war news that is too distorted from the truth" - Uncle Ho's advice in the past is probably never old.
And the most important thing is that before putting pen to paper, each journalist must begin each line with the loyalty to the truth of revolutionary journalists. Journalistic ethics are not only within the scope of regulation under the provisions of the current Press Law, but also the consciousness and practice motto of all revolutionary journalists. Revolutionary journalism, as the XIII Congress Document has clearly stated, must be a professional, modern and humane journalism. Professional, modern but humane - I think, that is the essential thing that every journalist in the fight to protect ideological security needs to remember. Whether that fight is successful, whether positive information green zones are spread, whether the mission of preserving and protecting ideological borders is maintained or not, must first start with that "Professionalism, modernity, and humanity" .
Red Ginseng
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