The most recognizable trick that hostile subjects often use today is to take advantage of political, economic, social events and complicated incidents arising in the area to post bad, toxic information to shake the will and spirit of the people, including the Youth Union members - those who have not really experienced and do not have much experience in selecting and receiving information. The danger of this type of information is that "right - wrong, true - false" are mixed together, making it very difficult for those who access it to distinguish.
In fact, in recent times, the authorities of Nghe An province have strictly handled many subjects who took advantage of social networks to oppose the Party and the State, going against the interests of the nation and people. Typically, on July 20, 2021, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a first-instance criminal trial of defendant Nguyen Van Lam (residing in Vinh City) on the charge of "Making, storing, disseminating or propagating information and documents aimed at opposing the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" as prescribed in Article 117 of the Penal Code.
Previously, on September 21, 2020, while the Covid-19 epidemic was becoming increasingly complicated, the Investigation Security Agency, Nghe An Provincial Police received a crime report requesting verification and investigation to clarify the subject using a Facebook account named "Lam Thoi" to post and share many videos, images, and articles with illegal content. Immediately after that, the Investigation Security Agency determined that since 2014, Nguyen Van Lam had created a Facebook account named "Lam Thoi" and from about 2017 to November 2020, Nguyen Van Lam directly posted on Facebook "Lam Thoi" many illegal content and images, including 3 videos broadcast live by Lam; 13 articles shared from accounts such as: “Lawyer Nguyen Van Dai”, “Radio Free Asia”, “Vietnamese Mind – Anh Chi”,… 18 articles were drafted by Lam on his phone. The content posted above was for the purpose of propagandizing, inciting people to oppose the State, oppose the Communist Party of Vietnam, defame the regime, insult the leaders of the Party and State, incite demands for pluralism and multi-party system; posting distorted and untrue information about the situation in Vietnam.
Nguyen Van Lam has a bad personal history and has been criminally punished by courts at all levels 6 times for the crimes of property theft, prostitution brokerage, illegal drug trafficking, and intentional injury. In addition, the defendant has 5 previous criminal records and has been administratively punished many times. In response to Nguyen Van Lam's violations of the law, the People's Court of Nghe An province sentenced Nguyen Van Lam to 9 years in prison for the crime of "Making, storing, disseminating or propagating information and documents against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam" as stipulated in Point a, Clause 1, Article 117 of the Penal Code.
Previously, there were also a number of subjects who used cyberspace to post content, images and clips against the government, promoting acts of violating national security and were brought to strict trial. Among them, there were subjects who were quite young at the time of the crime but had committed acts of crazy sabotage against the State such as Nguyen Duy Huong (born in 1987), residing in Yen Thanh district; Phan Cong Hai (born in 1996), residing in Nghi Dien commune (Nghi Loc), Nguyen Quang Vinh (born in 1981), residing in Hung Binh ward (Vinh city), Nguyen Viet Dung (aka "Dung phi ho", born in 1986), residing in Hau Thanh commune (Yen Thanh)...
Most recently, in Nghe An, on June 12 and 13, 2023, when the Provincial People's Court conducted an appeal trial of a criminal case that occurred at the Continuing Education Center of Hung Nguyen district, many subjects inside and outside the province, even abroad, used social networks to propagate, incite, and provide false information to sabotage the judicial system of the province in particular and the country in general. Or as before, when implementing the Eternal Ecological Park Project and the Environmental Improvement Project in Eo Gio area, Hung Tay commune (Hung Nguyen); WHA Industrial Zone 1 Project - Nghe An in Nghi Loc district; North - South Expressway Project... many subjects used social networks to post false information, creating public opinion and inciting conflicting opinions.
According to Ms. Nguyen Nu Lan Oanh - Inspector of the Department of Information and Communications of Nghe An province, currently, on social networks, the dissemination of false information, insulting the honor of organizations and individuals is very painful. Often, bad actors will exploit the curiosity of users, especially young people, those who lack strong political awareness to cause confusion in public opinion.
Some subjects also set up fake accounts of agencies, organizations and individuals to post information distorting the political, economic and social situation. They fabricate information and impersonate websites of Party and State leaders by cutting and pasting images of Party and State leaders and senior officials with "shocking" statements to mislead public opinion. Some subjects with a large number of followers even use their personal websites to post ambiguous information, abbreviate local and personal names, use vague pronouns... to defame organizations and individuals. Such information, once posted on social networks, will cause confusion. Once exposed to this type of information continuously, it will make people, especially young people, skeptical, causing instability in public opinion.
In addition, bad elements also take advantage of issues related to human rights, democracy, beliefs, and religions to create personal or group accounts to disseminate documents and cultural products with bad, toxic, and reactionary content, thereby attracting and calling for illegal gatherings, disturbing security and order, and inciting riots. These elements often take advantage of prominent events in the local political and social situation to secretly or openly attack the Party's ideological foundation and the State's policies and guidelines, in order to reduce the prestige and trust of the people.
In addition to discovering and removing many websites, fanpages, Facebook accounts, Youtube channels... with content that distorts the policies of the Party and State, exaggerates incidents arising at the grassroots level, incites marches and protests, complicates political security, order, and social safety... and strictly handles bad elements who take advantage of social media to carry out plans to sabotage the State and our country's revolution.
Faced with the reality that many bad and toxic information have been received by people with low awareness, including young people, and actively spread through many different forms for the online community to discuss and speculate. A large number of people (including young people) have the habit of liking, sharing, and commenting without reading carefully or verifying information, creating "loopholes" for bad elements, disgruntled subjects, and political opportunists to take advantage of to spread and disseminate false information on social networks... Recently, the authorities have taken strong measures to deter those who use social networks to post fabricated, unverified information for the purpose of attracting likes and views.
Typically, on August 31, 2022, Do Luong District Police fined LVL (born in 1982), residing in Yen The hamlet, Thinh Son commune (Do Luong) VND 7.5 million for administrative violations in the fields of post, telecommunications, radio frequencies, information technology and electronic transactions. Previously, on the evening of August 27, 2022, a Facebook account named "Le Van Lam" posted comments with obscene, offensive, untrue content, insulting the Traffic Police force in a post on the public group "Otofun Nghe An". The comments of the above account have seriously affected the reputation of the People's Police force in general, the Traffic Police force in particular, creating a bad mentality in society. Do Luong District Police coordinated with the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention and Control, Nghe An Provincial Police to verify and LVL admitted that the content of his comments violated the Law on Cyber Security and Decree 15/2020/ND-CP of the Government.
Most recently, on the morning of June 13, 2023, the police discovered a Facebook account posting false content, distorting the incident of some strangers attacking the People's Committee headquarters in Dak Lak province. Conducting verification, the police summoned the Facebook account owner, TVC (born in 1993), residing in Quynh Thanh commune (Quynh Luu). At the police station, the subject confessed that while accessing social networks and reading information about the incident in Dak Lak, due to not researching carefully, he posted on his personal account untrue, unverified content, insulting the reputation of the local government and the police force. After working with the police, TVC removed the post and posted a correction. TVC's actions violated Point a, Clause 1, Article 101 of Decree No. 15/2020/ND-CP dated February 3, 2020 of the Government regulating administrative sanctions in the fields of post, telecommunications, radio frequencies, information technology and electronic transactions. Based on the level of violation, on the afternoon of June 14, the police agency issued a decision to fine TVC VND 7.5 million.
From 2021 to present, the functional sector in Nghe An province has deployed professional measures, conducted questioning, deterrence, and worked with 343 cases of posting bad and toxic information on cyberspace. At the same time, decisions on administrative sanctions have been issued for 79 cases of posting false information, affecting the honor and dignity of organizations and individuals.
The inspector of the Department of Information and Communications of Nghe An province also said that over the past 2 years, 20 subjects posting false information on cyberspace have been administratively punished. Of which, in 2021, 10 organizations and individuals violated and were fined 76.2 million VND; in 2022, 7 subjects violated and were fined 76 million VND; in the first 6 months of 2023, 3 organizations and individuals violated and were fined 50 million VND.
Faced with the complex and unpredictable developments of conflicting information flows on cyberspace today, every citizen, especially union members and young people - those who regularly use social networks - need to be alert to "identify" the nature of information, and at the same time, have a correct awareness of their civic responsibilities when participating in social networks. In addition, relevant departments and branches, especially the Youth Union, need to strengthen education, orientation, equip skills and awareness for young people to turn their social networking sites into propaganda channels to spread good examples, new models, good practices of agencies, units, and localities in the patriotic emulation movement and fight against fabricated, distorted information that causes public confusion.
