In 2023, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) will focus on dealing with the ‘newspaperization’ of news websites and social networks, will detect and handle violations on the internet, and publicize ‘whitelist’ and ‘blacklist’ content on the internet.

In order to assess the situation and activities in the field of electronic information in 2022 and set orientations for the time to come, MIC several days ago organized a conference with the participation of many institutions and enterprises operating in the field of electronic information, social networks, online ads and information and communications departments.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam noted that this is a field where the good and the bad are intertwined. 

Users and viewers, therefore, find it difficult to ‘filter’ and tell the difference between newspapers and news websites, between official information sources and dubious information sources.

There is also the presence of cross-border social network platforms which are not under control of Vietnamese laws. In recent years, cross-border enterprises and domestic content service providers have been managed on the same playing field and the same legal regulations.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen from the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information said as of the end of November, the number of licensed electronic information websites, social networks and content service providers on mobile telecommunication networks as well as electronic games on the internet had decreased.

Huyen said , partially because MIC requested departments to tighten the licensing to prevent the ‘newspaperization’ of news websites.

However, the number of users of social networks in Vietnam is still on the rise, reaching 77 million.

Deputy chair of the Vietnam Digital Communication Association Ho Quang Loi said in 2022, MIC did a lot of work which had positive effects in the field of electronic information management. It perfected the legal framework, set up criteria to recognize the newspaperization of magazines, news websites and social networks.

According to TATU, a social network, to develop, social networks should create differences, focusing on the values designated for Vietnamese people. Commenting that KOLs (key opinion leaders) play a very important role in spreading information, TATU suggested that state management agencies cooperate with KOLs to block bad content and spread positive messages to the community.

Le Quang Tu Do, head of the Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information said MIC is joining the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to do this. It is expected that there would be other solutions to manage KOLs once they commit violated behaviors.

Van Anh