Facebook discusses with Vietnam to remove toxic information

On the afternoon of April 26, Ms. Monika Bickert, Director of Global Content Policy at Facebook, worked with the Ministry of Information and Communications to discuss solutions to prevent and remove information that violates Vietnamese law on this social network.

Minister Truong Minh Tuan talks with Ms. Monika Bickert, Director of Global Content Policy at Facebook. Photo: Thanh Ha

The minister has two Facebook accounts.

Speaking at a meeting with Ms. Monika Bickert before the official working session, Minister Truong Minh Tuan said that currently Vietnam has more than 92 million people, 70% of whom use the Internet, about 45 million people have Facebook accounts.

Minister Truong Minh Tuan shared that he also has two Facebook accounts and often accesses them in his free time to exchange information and connect with friends.

“The Vietnamese government does not prevent Facebook and other social networks from developing, complying with Vietnamese laws and international practices,” Mr. Tuan affirmed.

However, Minister Truong Minh Tuan also expressed regret that not everyone uses Facebook for good purposes to create a healthy information environment on the Internet.

The head of the Ministry of Information and Communications said that in Vietnam there are a number of people who create illegitimate Facebook accounts. Some people violate the law in serious ways such as inciting war, violence, child abuse, violating the privacy of individuals and organizations or insulting the dignity of others, violating women's rights...

In particular, "there are many people impersonating leaders of the Party, State, and Government of Vietnam to create Facebook accounts and post bad and toxic information on these pages" - the Minister emphasized and directly opened his phone to show Facebook leaders the above fake accounts.

There will be no "door" for bad and toxic information?

Mr. Truong Minh Tuan also said that the meeting between the two sides will aim to discuss solutions to ensure a healthy environment on Facebook in Vietnam.

Minister Truong Minh Tuan frankly stated that this would be difficult, but could be resolved if there was goodwill and active cooperation from Facebook.

Ms. Monika Bickert affirmed that Vietnam is also an important market for this enterprise.

According to Ms. Monika Bickert, in addition to regular users, there are currently many Vietnamese businesses using Facebook as a channel to organize promotions, promote business activities, and learn from other organizations at home and abroad to improve business activities.

A senior representative of Facebook affirmed that Facebook has also issued a set of standard policies and regulations so that people understand that they are protected when using the website and are responsible for this issue.

“All content such as fake accounts, defamation, hateful attacks… will have no place on Facebook and we are committed to removing such information if we receive it. We also provide tools so that when users discover information, they can report it to Facebook so that we can coordinate the handling,” Ms. Monika Bickert shared.

Facebook representatives also pledged to coordinate with the Ministry of Information and Communications to come up with appropriate measures to improve the social networking environment.

According to TTO