After buying her 9th grade son a smartphone, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Thao in Ha Dong district, Hanoi, can easily contact and remind her son to study as well as help him book a motorbike taxi from school to home. However, Ms. Thao recently discovered that her son has saccounts on Facebook, Tik Tok, and Zalo, so he always holds his phone.

Many times she discovered her son skipping homework to watch videos on Facebook. When she reminded him, the child ignored her and even expressed his annoyance. Ms. Thao confided that she was extremely worried because in addition to her child having more channels for entertainment, she was also afraid that sensitive and harmful content on social networks would affect her child's psychology in the future.

Meanwhile, Tran Quang B, who is in7th grade and lives in Nam Tu Liem district, Hanoi, said: "Even though I have a Facebook account and am friends with many classmates, I find it very troublesome when my parents post my photos online. This caused me to be repeatedly asked for information by strange accounts on social networks, even invited to play games. However, because I don't know each other, I didn't answer them."

Mr. Dang Hoa Nam, Director of the Department of Child Affairs (Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs) said that child abuse in 2023 would increase compared to 2022 and the situation would be complicated. The acts and consequences of violating children's rights in general and child abuse in particular in the online environment have been affecting children in the immediate and long term, especially related to psychological issues, children's emotions, morality, and mental health.

To protect children in cyberspace, Mr. Nam said, we must clearly recognize that this is the family's responsibility, the responsibility of parents to prevent harm to children, including preventing abuse. harm, prevent accidents and injuries, prevent drowning. No one can protect children better than their parents, and no one can create a safer living environment for their children than their parents.

Mr. Dang Hoa Nam also shared that children are on summer vacation, requiring families to pay increased attention to prevent an increase in accidents and injuries, especially drowning, to ensure a safe summer. Safe and healthy for children. Therefore, localities need to pay attention to allocating resources to effectively carry out child protection work.

Giving opinions on preventing bad impacts and reducing harm to children, Ms. Dinh Thi Nhu Hoa, from the Vietnam Cyberspace Emergency Response Center, Department of Information Security (Ministry of Information and Communications) believes that one of the dangers affecting children is the spread and leakage of children's privacy and personal information in the online environment. In particular, it is parents who share information and images of their children freely and without control on social networks. This can lead to many negative effects for children.

Ms. Dinh Thi Nhu Hoa added that, according to statistics, the rate of Internet use among children from 12 to 17 years old is very high, accounting for 93% in urban areas and 88% in rural areas, of which girls use the Internet. up to 89%. In particular, 98% of children's access through smartphones accounts for 98%.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2022 report, 23% of children said they sometimes accidentally see sensitive images or videos advertised online. In fact, pornography is everywhere, so blocking pornographic websites is insufficient and ineffective. Children need a more powerful and effective tool to filter online content, helping them not to be influenced by bad and toxic information.

In fact, cyberspace provides many utilities for children to develop both in terms of entertainment and learning, and many good environments for them to develop. However, in reality, children are heavily dependent on cyberspace. Children are spending more and more time using the Internet for different purposes such as studying, watching movies, using social networks, chatting with friends, relatives... Along with that, children will have to face face many potential risks of being harmed through a cyber environment that is no less dangerous than real life.

From such awareness, the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Communications, and the Ministry of Public Security have coordinated with relevant agencies and social organizations to develop protection and support programs. Support children to interact healthily in the online environment.

Regarding foreign social networks provided across borders into Vietnam, typically Facebook and YouTube, a representative of the Ministry of Information and Communications said that the Ministry has been actively negotiating with foreign businesses providing provide cross-border services into Vietnam, request them to remove inappropriate content, and comply with Vietnamese law.m, requires a solution to manage children's content.

At the same time, increase propaganda on the media about the negative effects of social networks in particular and the Internet in general so that children, especially parents, know and guide their children in choosing programs. Appropriate and useful content and programs, know how to protect your own and your children's private information when participating in social networks.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has also requested telecommunications businesses and Internet service providers to have solutions to recommend and guide subscribers on how to manage information online, and strictly implement prevention Block online information content that is not suitable for children according to the provisions of law.

Nhan Hau