Comply with social media etiquette

Many cases of violation

In Nghe An province, recently, a large number of "netizens", especially young people, due to lack of knowledge and awareness of the law, have engaged in acts of defamation and slander.misinformationseriously damaging the reputation of organizations, honor and dignity of individuals on social networks. In addition, there are many cases of intentionally sharing information that is slanderous, fabricated, and defamatory of the honor and dignity of others with personal intentions.

NVH residing in Thach Son commune, Anh Son district was summoned by the police to work on the posting of provocative, threatening, and insulting comments on Facebook. Photo: Cam Phu

Recently, on September 23, 2021, Thach Son Commune Police (Anh Son) summoned and worked with NVH (born in 1972), residing locally, regarding posting provocative, threatening, and insulting comments on Facebook.

Previously, through the work of monitoring the situation on cyberspace, Thach Son Commune Police discovered that a Facebook account named “Hong Nguyen” posted comments insulting and threatening Thach Son Commune officials. NVH confessed: Due to his lack of awareness about the school merger, he was provoked and posted comments with the above content. After working with the police, NVH realized that his behavior was a violation of the law, posted an apology and pledged not to repeat the offense.

Similarly, on July 31, 2021, Mr. H.D.Q (born in 1952, residing in Truong An hamlet, Nghi Truong commune, Nghi Loc) used his personal Facebook H.H to post false information to defame and insult the honor and dignity of an official of the District People's Committee. After being summoned by Nghi Loc District Police to work on the act of using Facebook to post false information to insult the honor and dignity of others. Mr. H.D.Q admitted his wrongdoing, pledged not to repeat the offense, removed the post, and apologized to the individual who was defamed and insulted.

Mr. H.D.Q, residing in Nghi Loc district, wrote a commitment not to repeat the act of using Facebook to defame and insult district officials. Photo: CANL

Previously, on October 27, 2020, Do Luong District Police announced the decision of the Provincial Police Director to administratively fine Le Anh Thang, residing in Giang Son Tay commune, VND 7.5 million for the act of "Providing and sharing false information, slandering, and insulting the reputation of agencies and organizations on social networks".

Previously, at 10:00 p.m. on October 15, 2020, a Facebook account named Le Thang leanhthang posted some false information, slandering and insulting the reputation of the People's Public Security force. Later, Le Anh Thang admitted that the above Facebook account was his and that he directly posted the false content using his personal mobile phone.

In fact, not only on personal Facebook pages but also when accessing group pages, it is not difficult to encounter images and information that defame, denounce, and insult the honor and dignity of individuals and organizations.

It is unclear whether the content is true or not, but it has attracted a lot of shares and comments. Ms. NTH, a civil servant in Vinh city, once found herself in a "half-crying, half-laughing" situation when she discovered a status on a fair's page accusing her of unpaid debt. The photo in the status was taken from her personal Facebook, because the poster used a fake account, so Ms. H had no choice but to take a photo of the fabricated share and post it on her personal page to protect herself.

Clause 1, Article 20 of the 2013 Constitution stipulates: “Everyone has the right to inviolability of the body, and is protected by law in terms of health, honor and dignity…”. Article 34 of the 2015 Civil Code also affirms: “The honor, dignity and reputation of an individual are personal rights that are inviolable and protected by law.”

Any act of "slandering" or defaming others on social networking sites that is fabricated, distorted, or untrue in order to insult the honor, dignity, and reputation of others is a violation of the law and must be strictly handled.

Strictly handle

The 2018 Law on Cyber ​​Security clearly stipulates prohibited acts regarding cyber security. This includes the prohibition of spreading false information that causes confusion among the people, damages socio-economic activities, causes difficulties for the activities of state agencies or public servants, and infringes upon the legitimate rights and interests of other agencies, organizations, and individuals.

On June 17, 2021, the Ministry of Information and Communications also issued a Code of Conduct on social networks. It requires organizations and individuals to share information from official and reliable sources; to have behaviors and conduct in accordance with the ethical, cultural and traditional values ​​of the Vietnamese people; not to use hateful words, incite violence, discriminate against regions, genders, religions; not to post content that violates the law, information that insults the honor, dignity, affects the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals; use offensive language, violate good customs and traditions; spread fake news, untrue news... causing public outrage, affecting social order and safety.

Illustration photo.

Depending on the severity of the violation and the nature of the act, acts of taking advantage of social networks to provide or share fake information, false information, distort information, slander information, or insult the reputation of agencies, organizations, or the honor and dignity of individuals (Point a, Clause 1, Article 101) and providing, exchanging, transmitting or storing and using digital information to threaten, harass, distort information, slander, or insult the reputation of organizations, or the honor, dignity, or reputation of individuals (Point g, Clause 3, Article 102) shall be subject to a fine of 5-10 million VND.

In addition, at Point a, Clause 3, Article 100 of Decree 15/2020/ND-CP on violations of regulations on the responsibilities of organizations and enterprises establishing social networks stipulates: a fine of 50-70 million VND for the act of actively storing and transmitting fake information, false information, slander, distortion, and insulting the reputation of organizations and the honor and dignity of individuals.

Regarding criminal liability, the use of social networks is considered an aggravating circumstance for the crime of humiliating others and can be punished with imprisonment from 3 months to 2 years as prescribed in Article 155 of the 2015 Penal Code. If causing mental and behavioral disorders of the victim with a body injury rate of 61% or more or causing the victim to commit suicide, the punishment can be from 2 to 5 years in prison.

The act of spreading things that are clearly fabricated and untrue, in many different forms such as: copying and sending many copies to many people via messages, posting statuses, commenting on Facebook... can be prosecuted for the crime of "Slander" under Article 156 of the 2015 Penal Code with the highest penalty of up to 7 years in prison.

Phan Cong Hai's trial for "Making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam". Photo by PV group

In particular, acts of insulting and defaming officials on social networks, in addition to being criminally prosecuted for the crime of humiliating others, can also be criminally prosecuted for the crime of resisting a person on official duty (according to Article 330 of the 2015 Penal Code), punishable by up to 3 years of non-custodial reform or imprisonment from 6 months to 7 years.

The act of taking advantage of social networks to insult and defame the government can also be criminally prosecuted for crimes such as: making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items against the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Article 117) is punishable by imprisonment from 5 to 20 years; the crime of disrupting security (Article 118) is punishable by imprisonment from 5 to 15 years; the crime of taking advantage of democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the State, the rights and legitimate interests of organizations and individuals (Article 331) is punishable by warning, non-custodial reform for up to 3 years or imprisonment from 6 months to 7 years...

Nguyen Duy Huong, residing in Yen Thanh district, used a Facebook account named “Bao Kiem” to post many distorted and defamatory contents about the people's government. Photo: Duc Vu

In fact, recently, in Nghe An, there have been a number of individuals who have used cyberspace to post and share many articles, images, and videos with content that distorts, sabotages, and incites against the Party, State, and local government.

Or taking advantage of sensitive events to write, post, share images, articles with content that defames the government, defames, insults the activities of public agencies, and insults those performing their duties will be handled. Typically, Nguyen Duy Huong, born in 1987, residing in Yen Thanh district; Nguyen Van Lam, born in 1970, residing in Dong Vinh ward, Vinh city; Phan Cong Hai, born in 1996, residing in Nghi Dien commune, Nghi Loc district; Tran Duc Thach, born in 1952, residing in Dien Tan commune, Dien Chau district; Nguyen Quang Vinh, born in 1981, residing in Hung Binh ward, Vinh city...

In addition to the involvement of functional forces in implementing measures to monitor and strictly manage information on the internet and cyberspace; promptly detect and strictly handle violations. Each organization and citizen needs to comply with the code of conduct and form the habit of behaving in a civilized manner on social networks. At the same time, they must have a firm grasp of the provisions of the law to protect their legitimate rights and interests when others defame their honor and reputation on social networks.

TAccording to Clause 4, Article 34 of the 2015 Civil Code, individuals have the right to request the Court to reject information that negatively affects their honor, dignity, and reputation. Information that negatively affects the honor, dignity, and reputation of an individual and is posted on any mass media must be removed or corrected by that same mass media. If this information is kept by an agency, organization, or individual, it must be destroyed.