Prevent and repel bad and toxic information on the internet and social networks

The development of the internet brings great benefits to people and contributes significantly to promoting social development. However, it also contains harmful information that needs to be eliminated.

According to statistics from the International Internet Data Center (Internetworldstats), by the end of June 2015, Vietnam had 45.5 million internet users, reaching a penetration rate/population of 48%; ranking 6th in Asia and 3rd in Southeast Asia. On average, Vietnamese people spend more than 5 hours online per day (for computer users) and nearly 3 hours (for phone users); the average time spent on social networks in many forms is more than 3 hours.

Internet photo.

“We are Social” is a global company that has released detailed statistics on the trends of internet, mobile device, and social network usage in countries, including Vietnam. As of January 1, 2015, our country’s population was 90.7 million, but there were 28 million people owning social network accounts (nearly 31%); 128.3 million people had mobile network connections (equivalent to 141%), meaning that on average each person owned 1.4 mobile subscriptions, of which 24 million people (26%) used social networks via phone. This shows that social networks and social network messaging tools (including Facebook) are of interest to and used by many people.

If the internet and social networks are used for the right purposes and appropriately, they will be effective tools that contribute significantly to serving the propaganda and education work of the Party and State's guidelines and policies for each citizen.

Illustration

However, besides the benefits the internet brings, its downside is not small. The nature of the internet is an open environment that allows users to freely provide, search and use information, fast transmission, wide reference area, almost instant information, easy to create social effects in a wide range, so it is very difficult to manage and control.

The superiority of social networks also creates the ability to communicate, share, and connect with the community very conveniently. This is a particularly attractive feature for young people of the internet. Therefore, the internet is considered a double-edged sword containing many unpredictable dangers for those who use it for the wrong purpose.

In fact, besides useful and valuable information for society, there is also a lot of information and images with bad and toxic content, contrary to national cultural traditions, which are also spread on websites, blogs, social networks, and on the comment sections of electronic newspapers...

Therefore, hostile forces are taking full advantage of the internet and creating many Facebook pages to spread bad and toxic information, posting statuses on personal Facebook pages with provocative and reactionary language and rhetoric, distorting the Party and State's guidelines and policies, denying the achievements of the renovation process, and finding every way to promote "self-evolution" and "self-transformation" within us in all fields.

Bad and toxic information spread on the internet and social networks is information that is fabricated, untrue, distorts the truth, misrepresents issues, “turns black and white”, confuses right and wrong, true and false; or has part of the truth but is reported with bad intentions, analyzed and oriented public opinion with false and hostile arguments. These are types of information with content that is not in accordance with ethical standards, culture, and customs such as: Inciting depravity, violence, defamation of privacy, slander...; false and toxic information of a cybercrime nature such as: Online fraud, stealing information, passwords, spreading viruses...; False information of a political nature such as: Distorting historical truth, denying Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, opposing the guidelines, policies and strategies of the Party and State, fabricating, slandering, and defaming senior leaders of the Party, State, army, and police, causing internal division and solidarity, threatening national security...

The harmful effects of bad and toxic information on the internet and social networks released by "dark network" forces have had a negative impact on the ideological situation and public opinion, causing suspicion, spreading confusion and hesitation, and reducing the trust of a number of cadres, party members and people in the Party, the State and the socialist regime.

Nghe An Department of Information and Communications chaired the organization of a computer incident response drill. Photo: Thuc Anh

The consequences of bad and toxic information greatly affect the morality, lifestyle, and personality of individuals and the social community. If social morality is corrupted, national culture is trivialized, identity is lost, and social security is broken, it will have a strong impact on politics, economics, security, and national defense; there is a risk of leading to disorientation in choosing values, lifestyles, and beliefs of a large number of young people who regularly access Facebook.

To proactively prevent and repel bad and toxic information on the internet and social networks, it is required that first of all, each Party committee, Party organization, and government at all levels need to step up propaganda and education so that each cadre and citizen can clearly see the two-sided nature of the internet and social networks; identify the tricks, content of bad and toxic information, and its harmful nature to individuals and society. Thereby, equipping each person with the necessary knowledge so that they can filter and receive useful and authentic information, and at the same time be "immune" to bad and toxic information that disrupts the social environment.

In the process of propaganda and education to improve each person's resistance to bad and toxic information on the internet and social networks, it is necessary to continue to closely link with propaganda and effectively implement Directive No. 46-CT/TW dated July 27, 2010 of the Central Party Secretariat (10th tenure) on "Combating the infiltration of toxic cultural products that destroy social morality"; Resolution No. 33-NQ/TW dated June 9, 2014 of the 9th Central Conference (11th tenure) "On building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable national development".

The proactive fight to prevent and repel bad and toxic information on the internet and social networks in each agency and unit requires close coordination of organizations and forces that really "get involved"; Promote the role of mass organizations and socio-political organizations to create a community-based movement towards a healthy internet culture, ready to organize direct fights against bad and toxic information on the internet and social networks.

Colonel, Master Nguyen Duc Thang/qdnd