Exploiting the convenience of cross-border platforms, wrongdoers have been intensifying the spread of toxic information. 

Meanwhile, many people access social media only because of curiosity, and don’t care if the information is true or false. The toxic information thus has favorable conditions to multiply and be difficult to control.

In late February, at a street ice tea shop on Tran Thu Do Street in Hoang Mai district in Hanoi, a man was seen attentively watching a clip on his smartphone which showed information about high-ranking officials to be elected. The information had not appeared in any official newspaper at that time and it had not been verified, but it was a hot topic of discussion among the men at the café.

N.D.H, 30, in Ha Dong district, said such news can be found everywhere on the internet. The owners of fan-pages and personal accounts also publish news. They don’t show the sources of information, but always affirm that the information is reliable.

“Such news makes me feel confused and insecure. I think people who don’t watch information on official channels will trust this news,” H said.

Nguyen Phong D., 51, director of an enterprise in Thu Duc City, said he watched the livestream of Nguyen Phuong Hang during Covid-19 many times when HCMC and other cities were under lockdown.

“I watched the clips all day, though I did not know if the information was true or false,” D said.

Nguyen Tuyet L, owner of a café on Chu Van An street in Binh Thanh district, HCM City, said fake news seems rampant on social networks. 

“Today you may read news that an artist passed away and tomorrow you may read someone will be arrested. I think people who post the news just want to attract as many more views as possible,” she said.

“Many people read this news and automatically believe that the news happens in reality, without verification. And they share the news with their friends and relatives and are happy with the ‘likes’ they get,” L said.

L.T.L, 34, from Lai Vung district in Dong Thap province, told VietNamNet that one day, he read on social media that the case of the 10-year-old boy falling into a concrete pillar was a fabricated story. This was sensational information when the country was watching over the case, so he immediately shared the news with friends. 

Later, he checked the news on official newspapers and found that what he had shared was not true.

According to H.N.Q, 28, in Thua Thien-Hue, toxic information can be easily spread because of people’s habits.

“I myself have the habit of surfing social networks and reading news on my smartphone when sitting at a café when I have free time. As I am interested in socio-economic news, I always read news about these fields. After I finish reading, other pieces of news are suggested,” he said. “This explains why at first, you just want to read one piece of news, but later you find so many pieces of news of this kind to read."

“In some cases, toxic news uses images that official newspapers use, but with changes and other captions, which lead to completely new content and meanings,” he said, adding that it is necessary to be cautious as toxic news can "creep into people’s mind" in a sophisticated way.

“People with high education levels can discover toxic information, but people who rarely read official newspapers will find it difficult to differentiate fake news from true news. It will be even more dangerous if they share the news with others,” he said.

Phan Ba Manh, CEO and Founder of AN VUI Technology, warned that ChatGPT, which is considered the most advanced AI tool, can generate false information. It will be more dangerous if ChatGPT is intentionally used to disseminate false, deceptive and libelous information.

In terms of politics and religion, it is likely that ChatGPT could be exploited to provide false news to profiteer or distort information. Users need to be cautious and should not wholly trust in the answers created by the system. It is necessary to have a legal framework that strictly handles people who take advantage of AI to propagate false information.

Quang Thanh - Hoai Thanh