Fighting against deviant manifestations in cyberspace - practice from Quang Ninh

TCCS - Identifying deviant manifestations and actions in cyberspace contributes significantly to the work of protecting political security and promoting the nation's fine spiritual and cultural values. This task is even more important in maintaining the ideological security posture in a locality with an important strategic position in terms of economy, politics, national defense and security like Quang Ninh.

Quang Ninh Provincial Public Administration Service Center organizes training on task implementation according to the 2-level local government model_Source: baoquangninh.vn

1. With characteristics such as social hyperlinkage, equality between sender and receiver, openness of information, multimedia capabilities, high interaction, rapid connection and spread, etc., cyberspace is a place where users can search, follow and participate in activities such as posting articles, commenting, sharing conveniently and easily. Thanks to the continuous increase in posting, sharing and storing information in many forms, information on cyberspace helps people everywhere in the world connect, chat, exchange, without being limited by space and time.

However, besides the benefits and conveniences, cyberspace has been causing negative impacts on the community; the increase in deviant behaviors in ideology, culture and social ethics is a burning issue in many countries.

In Vietnam, timely identification and criticism of deviant and substandard manifestations and actions (deviant manifestations) on cyberspace have been identified by the Party, the State and relevant agencies as an important task, thereby contributing to protecting political security, strengthening the resistance of the social community, especially the youth; at the same time consolidating and promoting the good spiritual and cultural values ​​of the nation...

Identifying and criticizing deviant manifestations in cyberspace is identified by our Party as one of the core contents of the task of protecting the Party's ideological foundation. Together with functional agencies and forces, the proactive and active participation of localities, especially those with strategic positions, is of key significance in maintaining ideological security and creating strong social resistance.

2. Deviant manifestations are understood as actions, views, attitudes that are deviant, wrong or inconsistent with ethical standards, laws or cultural and political values ​​that society and community have built. These manifestations appear in many different forms, from "cyber violence" actions, spreading false information, to spreading extreme and reactionary political and cultural views.

It is not difficult to see that, through social media, many “netizens”, a part of the youth, have had and are having “perspectives” and wrong views, going against the good traditional moral values ​​of the nation. Many worrying manifestations such as encouraging and praising a pragmatic lifestyle, worshiping money, chasing “reckless fame” through trends and movements labeled as “modern”, “free”, “living for oneself”…

Many young people always "enthusiastically" cheer for "internet idols" whose statements and actions disregard good customs, violate social norms, and even defy the law. It is not rare for those who are admired by young people to show contempt for the law; praise wrongdoings; many young people "do whatever it takes" to "be famous"...

In recent years, cyberspace has been a fertile ground for a lot of false and toxic information. Reactionary and anti-government elements have continuously taken advantage of the anonymity and rapid spread of social media to distort history, spread hateful and discriminatory ideas, even incite violence, sabotage the great national unity bloc, distort policy information, deny the achievements of the revolution and the leadership role of the Party. It is worth mentioning that many anti-government and reactionary contents have been "amplified" and spread by the deviant sharing and commenting actions of a number of people participating in social media.

Although, in recent times, the authorities have handled thousands of cases of law violations related to deviant behaviors on social media, including content that is anti-political, distorts history, incites secession, causes ethnic and religious division, etc., on platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc., there are still thousands of anonymous accounts posting content attacking the Party's policies and guidelines and the State's policies. It is worth noting that this information does not only stop at organized opposition groups, but tends to spread in community groups and online forums. Due to lack of understanding and not clearly recognizing right and wrong, a part of "netizens" still spread video clips that distort and falsify the truth, but the struggle to criticize, refute, condemn, and clarify the right and wrong of those deviant expressions and behaviors is not carried out regularly and effectively at times and in some places.

In addition to the intentional sabotage activities on cyberspace by reactionary and hostile organizations, deviant manifestations - especially by ignorant individuals and community groups - if not promptly warned and prevented, will "help" bad guys, destabilize society and reduce people's trust.

Therefore, along with increasing information on refuting, criticizing and arguing on cyberspace against deviant manifestations and behaviors, it is necessary to pay more attention to orienting and educating skills in accessing information on social media; resolutely overcoming shortcomings and limitations in management work; propagating to raise awareness and perception of participants in social media in schools, agencies and units; ensuring the capacity and qualifications of officials of functional agencies to keep up with the pace of technological development...

Youth Union members of Quang Ninh province guide people in digital transformation_Source: baoquangninh.vn

3. Quang Ninh is a land with a strong historical and cultural imprint. Throughout the development process, the work of protecting the Party's ideological foundation has always been focused on by the Provincial Party Committee.

Determining that the work of protecting the ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints and criticizing and correcting deviant manifestations on social media is of great significance in ensuring national security, internal political security, and ideological and cultural security, in recent years, Quang Ninh province has seriously implemented directives, resolutions, programs, plans, and projects related to the work of protecting the ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints, bad, toxic, and deviant information, especially resolutely and effectively implementing Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW, dated October 22, 2018, of the Politburo and Regulation No. 85-QD/TW, dated October 7, 2022, of the Secretariat on cadres and party members establishing and using personal electronic information pages on the internet and social networks associated with the roles and responsibilities of party committees, leaders, and heads of agencies. head of agency, unit

The Provincial Party Standing Committee issued the Project "Improving the effectiveness of the fight to prevent, handle, remove, and eradicate fake, untrue, bad, and toxic information on cyberspace" and the Directive on strengthening the Party's leadership, the effectiveness and efficiency of state management in the fight to prevent, handle, remove, and eradicate fake, untrue, and toxic information on cyberspace. On that basis, the functional forces have proactively grasped the situation, analyzed, and evaluated bad and toxic information; at the same time, coordinated to effectively organize the fight to prevent, handle, remove, and eradicate fake, untrue, and toxic information on the internet and social media. The Provincial Police have actively grasped, detected, verified, and warned on cyberspace about fake, untrue news content, fraudulent tricks, and illegal acts; Authorities strengthen coordination in propaganda, education, warning, deterrence, and reminders for individuals and organizations with deviant expressions and behaviors on social media.

The provincial police and relevant agencies resolutely handle cases of intentional violations. In the province, there was a time when false information about sovereignty over islands, mineral exploitation, sensitive issues of religion, politics, etc. was spread by some individuals who deliberately created and disseminated it on social media. The false content was copied, reposted, edited and shared by many social media outlets, attracting many comments and shares. With the timely intervention of the political system and core forces, false information as well as deviant expressions and behaviors in sharing, commenting and disseminating were effectively prevented and handled.

The provincial authorities actively build columns to protect the Party's ideological foundation, fight against erroneous and hostile viewpoints openly on the media; establish and develop fanpages and groups on social media to propagate, share and spread positive information, fight against erroneous and hostile viewpoints, criticize and correct deviant manifestations. In particular, the Provincial Media Center promotes the advantage of a multimedia editorial office, plays a core role, is the link, the official information channel, and source information for pages and groups of agencies and units in the provincial political system to exploit and quote.

Authorities at all levels have set up hundreds of pages and accounts on social media to provide propaganda information and orient public opinion with thousands of members. Some pages operate effectively, are reputable, have a large following, and are well received and appreciated by the people, such as: I love Quang Ninh, Proud of Quang Ninh, Quang Ninh Propaganda, QMG fanpage, Quang Ninh News 24/7 of the Provincial Media Center, Quang Ninh Express, Leng Keeng, Colorful Ha Long, Workers... Pages, groups, and accounts on social media have contributed to providing official information; refuting fake information, false information, and deviant expressions; and orienting public opinion.

In addition to posting and sharing articles of direct struggle, rebuttal and criticism, the provincial authorities have directed local media agencies to effectively use social media to propagate policies, development achievements, innovation models, typical collective and individual examples in the direction of "using beauty to eliminate ugliness", "using positivity to repel negativity"; promptly posting news programs on social media to create favorable conditions for people to access official information of the province; diversifying the forms of posting news and articles, especially content of struggle, rebuttal and criticism on social media...

Along with the achievements, the work of protecting the Party's ideological foundation, fighting against and criticizing sabotage and hostile activities and deviant behaviors on social networks in Quang Ninh still has many limitations. In particular, the strong development of digital technology has led to the rapid increase of social media, making information management more difficult than ever.

In addition to efforts, the authorities still face many difficulties in coordinating to monitor and promptly handle false and harmful information, especially information that is widely disseminated, highly anonymous, and uses virtual emails to operate. The work of grasping public opinion, propagating and fighting against deviant, unstandard, harmful, and erroneous views is sometimes, in some places, and in some things still lacking in timeliness; the number of high-quality rebuttal articles is not high, and has not attracted many experts and influential people to participate in writing articles; the level of information access and readership is still limited...

In the coming time, the basic and synchronous measures in protecting the Party's ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints, and criticizing, rectifying, and handling deviant behaviors on social media are identified as:

Firstly , continue to research and deploy diverse and scientific forms and methods of critical and refuting struggle on cyberspace, suitable for different audiences. Always identify ideological work as an important front, both urgent and strategic, requiring short-term, medium-term and long-term scenarios, programs and plans.

Second, continue to thoroughly grasp and implement the resolutions and directives of the Central Committee. These include Regulation No. 85-QD/TW, dated October 7, 2022, of the Secretariat, on cadres and party members establishing and using personal electronic information pages on the internet and social media; Code of conduct on social networks; Set of digital cultural criteria for civilized and polite Quang Ninh people in the digital environment.

Third , strengthen the coordination of the provincial agencies and functional forces in verifying, summoning, requesting corrections and strict handling, and widely informing the press and media. Promote the application of technology in monitoring and managing information in cyberspace.

Fourth , strengthen the organization of training courses on cyber security, identification of fake news, toxic news, and deviant manifestations for many subjects... Strengthen propaganda and political and ideological education for cadres, party members and people of all walks of life, especially young people in key areas, especially industrial zones, ethnic minority areas, and border areas. Strengthen propaganda on Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, disseminate knowledge about history and the Party's viewpoints and policies; educate to raise awareness, identify false, toxic, deviant information on cyberspace and its consequences.

Fifth , strengthen the work of grasping the information situation and public opinion; continue to operate and promote the effectiveness of functional forces and specialized teams on propaganda and combating hostile, false and deviant information. Encourage the participation of the community, organizations, associations and unions in protecting the Party's ideological foundation on social networks. In particular, continue to maintain groups of collaborators at agencies, units and socio-political organizations, especially the education sector and youth union.

Sixth , develop a network of young propagandists, organize many creative activities suitable for young people such as competitions, forums, and discussions with rich and familiar topics, aiming to equip the young generation with basic knowledge about the history, culture, and ideology of the Party. Promote the pioneering and exemplary role of party members, association members, union members, and youth in the fight against deviant manifestations in cyberspace. Encourage people to identify, report, and participate in activities to fight against and criticize bad, wrong, and deviant behaviors and manifestations...

Seventh , promote the role of artists and journalists in creating literary and artistic works, and in the press to identify, fight against, and criticize wrong and deviant manifestations in society and on cyberspace. Enhance the role of information "filters", ensuring the authenticity, objectivity and professionalism of mainstream journalism.

Eighth , strengthen education on traditional culture of the nation and the homeland of "Heroic Mining Land", thereby creating a generation of Quang Ninh people in the "digital age" who can adapt to integration, development, science and technology, and grasp, deeply understand and be proud of history, cultural traditions, revolutionary traditions.../.

Source: https://tapchicongsan.org.vn/web/guest/thuc-tien-kinh-nghiem1/-/2018/1101302/dau-tranh-phe-phan-cac-bieu-hien-lech-chuan-tren-khong-gian-mang---thuc-tien-tu-quang-ninh.aspx