Lesson 2: Affirming one's character and intelligence
In the digital age, hostile forces have been thoroughly exploiting the Internet and social media to distort the Party's ideological foundation. As a force proficient in and quick to adapt to technology, youth union members in Nghe An province have actively and proactively participated in activities to prevent and combat harmful and toxic information that infringes upon the Party's ideological foundation by hostile forces in cyberspace.
Authors: Khanh Ly - Thanh Quynh
In the digital age, hostile forces have been thoroughly exploiting the Internet and social media to distort the Party's ideological foundation. As a force proficient in and quick to adapt to technology, youth union members in Nghe An province have actively and proactively participated in activities to prevent and combat harmful and toxic information that infringes upon the Party's ideological foundation by hostile forces in cyberspace.
In recent times, the youth of Nghe An have made many outstanding contributions to the work of protecting the Party's ideological foundation, especially in cyberspace. Through insightful articles, rigorous arguments, and a high sense of responsibility, the youth union members have not only proactively spread positive information but also persistently fought against and refuted erroneous and hostile viewpoints.
A prime example is Major Le Duc Tho, Assistant for Mass Mobilization Affairs, Political Department – Nghe An Provincial Military Command. He is known as a sharp writer, regularly contributing meaningful news articles, images, and videos to spread awareness of political events and exemplary individuals and good deeds in the community. At the same time, he is a keen "theorist" in combating distorted narratives and subversive activities against the Party, the State, and the military. For his efforts on the ideological front, Major Le Duc Tho was awarded two Certificates of Commendation by the Political Commissar of the Nghe An Provincial Military Command for his outstanding achievements over the past five years in implementing the Army's project on preventing and combating "peaceful evolution" in the ideological and cultural fields in the new situation, and for effectively implementing Directive No. 47/CT-CT dated January 8, 2016, of the General Political Department in the armed forces of Nghe An province on organizing forces to combat erroneous, hostile, and politically opportunistic viewpoints on the cyberspace within the Vietnam People's Army.
In addition to actively carrying out articles and propaganda campaigns to combat the distorted and subversive arguments of hostile forces, many young people in the province have also implemented a series of practical projects and tasks, spreading the spirit of protecting the Party's ideological foundation through concrete, creative, and meaningful actions. For example, Comrade Nguyen Ho Manh - Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union of the People's Committee of Nghe An province - has successfully built a website for feedback on the Party Congress documents at all levels for the 2025-2030 term. This project will be implemented by the Party Committee of the People's Committee of the province from May 2025 with many practical meanings, creating conditions for all strata of the people to directly participate in the process of building the Party's political line. Creating a systematic online feedback channel will help the Party promptly grasp the thoughts and aspirations of the people, thereby making appropriate policy adjustments, contributing to building a stronger Party that meets the development requirements of the country in the new period.
Similarly, Nguyen Thanh Loc, a student from class 62B1, Faculty of Economic Law, and also the President of the Student Union of Vinh University, is a key figure on the ideological front of the university. Possessing a strong grasp of legal knowledge, regularly updated on new policies and guidelines of the Party and State, and entrusted with managing and operating the Fanpage and Website of the Student Union and Youth Union of Vinh University, Loc consistently selects and publishes positive, directional information in various formats (graphics, photos, video clips, infographics) to attract student engagement. He also posts and shares articles refuting harmful and toxic information from official sources. Through this, he equips students with the knowledge and skills to distinguish right from wrong and remain steadfast against the distorted information of hostile forces.
One of the strengths of Nghe An's youth is its large, elite force with firm political convictions, comprised of young police officers. This core team is at the forefront of protecting the Party's ideological foundation and combating erroneous and hostile viewpoints in recent times. Through movements such as "Every officer and soldier is a sharp pen protecting the Party"; the "I am a propagandist" model; and "Youth volunteers for legal propaganda," many members of the Provincial Police Youth Union have participated in writing articles, commenting, and directly combating erroneous and hostile viewpoints on the internet.
Captain Ho Ba Tri, Secretary of the Youth Union of the Internal Political Security Department (Youth Committee of the Provincial Police), has produced numerous news articles refuting distorted narratives and false information aimed at promoting color revolutions among young people and students by hostile forces in cyberspace. These include issues related to "democracy and human rights" or the trend of following online idols (social media idols). Captain Ho Ba Tri's articles have been published in mainstream newspapers and widely shared on the Youth Union's social media pages, thereby providing accurate information, guiding public opinion, and arousing the awareness and responsibility of young people in preserving national identity and protecting their homeland against the conspiracies of hostile forces in the digital age.
Not only a political commentator, Captain Ho Ba Tri is also an active member of the Provincial Youth Union's Young Theorists Club. In 2024, he excellently won second prize in the Provincial Excellent Presenter and Propagandist Competition with his presentation and debate related to promoting the role of Youth Union members in preventing and combating fake news and misinformation on the internet. He was also honored by the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Youth Union and the Provincial Youth Federation as an outstanding young Party member in 2025.
Many other members of the Youth Union within the Provincial Public Security force are pioneers and core participants who have won numerous high awards in competitions to protect the Party's ideological foundation at all levels. For example, in 2024, Captain Vo Thi Huyen Thuong (born in 1988) – Internal Political Security Department – excellently won the A prize with her work."Preventing illegal Protestant missionary activities in the border area of Nghe An" at the "Protecting the Party's Ideological Foundation in the People's Police" competition.
Captain Vo Thi Huyen Thuong stated that, despite being a former reporter for the Nghe An Police Newspaper and having experience, protecting the Party's ideological foundation remains a difficult and new area for her. Therefore, in addition to dedicating time to grassroots work and staying in the field to understand the reality and gather information, she also incorporates feedback, advice, and guidance from superiors to approach the issue comprehensively. From this, she produces news articles on combating harmful and toxic information and protecting the Party's ideological foundation with depth and widespread impact.
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In addition to propaganda work, the youth union members of the Provincial Public Security Department are also the main force in detecting and dismantling many websites, fanpages, Facebook accounts, YouTube channels, etc., with harmful and toxic content. With their keen insight and professional expertise, this force has regularly monitored and closely followed developments in the political, economic, and social life of the country, as well as "hot" events of public interest. Through this, they have promptly detected, combated, and dealt with accounts that distort the policies of the Party and State, exaggerate incidents at the grassroots level, complicate political security and social order, and negatively affect the thoughts and trust of a segment of the population in the Party's guidelines, including the younger generation.
For example, recently, when the Party and State were carrying out the restructuring and streamlining of the organizational apparatus, some opportunistic individuals manipulated images and posted articles with distorted and false narratives to slander and undermine the prestige of Party and State leaders; inciting division and undermining national unity. At the same time, many unverified and premature articles related to the merger were also circulating on social media platforms such as Zalo, Facebook, and TikTok.
Responding to the situation, in December 2024, the Internal Political Security Department (Nghe An Provincial Police) issued administrative penalties to two individuals for posting false information about the reorganization and merger of provinces and cities nationwide: Mr. LVT (born in 1988, residing in Vinh City, a journalist) and Mr. NVM (born in 1988, residing in Tan Ky town, a freelance worker). Both admitted to posting the unverified information on their personal Facebook accounts to increase interaction. Notably, NVM's Facebook account is a verified account with over 80,000 followers.
Subsequently, in March 2025, the Internal Political Security Department discovered that the Facebook account “MI Xue Hung Nguyen” had posted false information about “the National Assembly agreeing to… merge 63 provinces and cities into 31.” Verification revealed that the owner of the Facebook account was Mr. NVK (44 years old, residing in Hung Nguyen district). The Internal Political Security Department summoned Mr. K. for questioning and issued an administrative penalty of 5 million VND for the act of “Providing and sharing fabricated information causing public panic.”
In addition, some individuals have been found to have created fake accounts impersonating agencies, organizations, and individuals; manipulated images of Party and State leaders and high-ranking officials in the political system, associating them with "shocking" statements to mislead public opinion; and spread ambiguous and false information online. These actions have been detected and severely dealt with by the cybersecurity task force.
For example, on March 25, 2025, Mr. HTB (41 years old, residing in Vinh City), the owner of the TikTok account "PTC," was fined 7.5 million VND by authorities for providing and sharing false, untrue, distorted, slanderous, and defamatory information that damaged the reputation of agencies, organizations, and the honor and dignity of individuals. Previously, the Internal Political Security Department (Nghe An Provincial Police) discovered that Mr. HTB's TikTok account "PTC" had posted images and fabricated information allegedly containing a statement by National Assembly representative Truong Trong Nghia, from the Ho Chi Minh City delegation. The content addressed the unfairness in salary payments across various professions. After being posted, the article attracted over 11,100 likes and nearly 4,000 comments. The police determined that this was an act of forgery and falsehood that affected and insulted the image, honor, and reputation of the National Assembly representative, creating conflicting and complicated public opinion, and disrupting public order and security. After being summoned for questioning, Mr. HTB confessed that he had taken an image of National Assembly representative Truong Trong Nghia in the National Assembly, then fabricated content and inserted it to make readers believe that it was a speech by this representative, and then posted it on social media to create a forum and debate to increase interaction for his personal account.
The information regarding subsequent penalties was promptly disseminated by police youth union members and young police officers through official information channels to guide public opinion. This served to advise citizens to be vigilant and not spread harmful, unverified information online. Simultaneously, it encouraged citizens, especially young people, to be knowledgeable and responsible when interacting on social media; to be alert and strong-willed so as not to be misled, incited, or manipulated by negative information that goes against the interests of the nation and its people, and undermines the Party's ideological foundation.