Ways of dealing with news containing inaccurate information and defaming individuals, particularly Government and National Assembly officials, was among the hot-button topics addressed during the legislative body’s grilling on Wednesday, October 31 of Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at the ongoing sitting of the National Assembly 

Speaking at the session, Deputy Nguyen Sy Cuong of Ninh Thuan Province said that a number of individuals speak without restraint and insult others on social networking sites.

Cuong used as an example posts insulting ministers based on the recent confidence vote results. He questioned whether the Government and Ministry of Public Security can handle the issue.

Cuong also asked the minister if it was possible to ban unregistered SIM cards.

In reply to queries concerning fake news on social networking sites, Hung said the problem has arisen in many countries. He added that Vietnam has significant experience with cyberspace, which will further develop.

Hung underscored the need to define fake news and to revise laws to deal with it. Besides this, he stated, technological solutions are needed to supervise, analyze and evaluate information.

The Ministry of Information and Communications has started building a national data center that can read 100 million news stories per day and can work on analysis and evaluation.

It is crucial that cross-border service providers comply with laws, especially requests to remove information. Vietnam can learn from the European Union and ASEAN states.

As for unregistered SIM cards, Hung said that the best solution was to build an accurate citizen database.

According to Deputy Nguyen Thanh Hong of Binh Duong Province, the National Assembly has issued a cybersecurity law with sanctions for violations. The issue of unregistered phone numbers has remained unresolved given the short working tenures of communications ministers.

SGT