Damage is not virtual, the price must also be real

Media and the story of civilized behavior in cyberspace

Civilized behavior in cyberspace is probably not a new thing, but the problem posed to the press and communication work in the mission of "the most trustworthy of the trustworthy" as Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung once said is an important issue at any time. Especially, in the current context, facing the wave of "uncivilized" behavior in cyberspace of a part of netizens that is increasingly worrying, the responsibility of journalists to improve, orient and guide information must be even better. They not only know how to maintain standards of behavior when participating in social networks but also have a "warm heart and a cool head" to balance, be fair and filter news effectively. From there, join hands to contribute and promote civilization and culture in social network space... That story is raised by the Journalist & Public Opinion Newspaper in this topic.

I thought the virtual world would be less painful, but for those who have been criticized, insulted, and trampled, those “wounds” have penetrated their hearts, creating scars that can never heal… Anything that goes beyond the limit must be paid for – even though it is a “limit” in cyberspace. This situation requires many “resonant” solutions, but the responsibility of the media cannot be denied.

1. Participating in social networks is an indispensable habit and gradually the real world is also forming the need to "live in the virtual world", parallel with daily life. In Vietnam, popular social networking platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, Zalo... attract a huge number of users. The wave of "migrating online" with the purpose of exchanging information, entertainment and freely expressing oneself within the legal framework... is appropriate. But using "cyberspace" as a place to... gossip, vent anger, curse, expose, insult, even insult and humiliate others as is currently... is inexcusable.

The press and media have repeatedly warned and criticized this phenomenon, but it shows no signs of abating, and even tends to appear more and more. It is worth mentioning that many people join groups with market-like behavior, following the crowd mentality, without needing to clearly and thoroughly understand the source of the problem, just seeing others cursing, they follow suit. There is a period when "crowd mentality" becomes an obsession for civilized internet users.

Not long ago, an international referee was heavily criticized by Vietnamese fans on his personal page for ignoring some mistakes made by Indonesian players in the match against the Vietnamese team. Or recently, because of dissatisfaction with the referee's refusal to award a penalty to the Vietnamese team in the match against the UAE, many Vietnamese football fans attacked his personal page with harsh, unacceptable insults...

The uncontrolled words of the “keyboard heroes” have stunned international football fans because they seem unable to imagine that a peace- loving country like Vietnam, with a love for the king sport, has such uncivilized behavior. Then the incident related to Miss Ý Nhi recently, and before that, many other beauty queens and models… were caught up in statements that “did not please the majority”… also created a wave of demands to “take away the crown”, the cyberspace became noisy, filled with “cultural garbage”…

The above reality has led to many heartbreaking stories about the consequences of attacks and bullying on social networks, especially for famous people. Some people suffer from psychological trauma, depression, and even suicide after being attacked and slandered online. Many brands, businesses, and enterprises have been devastated by calls for boycotts from online groups... A part of the online community has even appointed themselves as "online judges" to enforce justice... leading to violations of ethics, culture, and the law... and causing consequences for themselves in real life. In recent times, many social network users have been temporarily detained by the investigation agency, along with cases being prosecuted...

2. Responsibility for cleaning up “cultural waste” to create a healthy cyberspace, a civilized “cyber community”, the press and media cannot stand aside. As the Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Manh Hung said: “ Cyberspace is a new living environment, so there must be digital culture!” .

Experts point out that one of the most effective ways to “clean up” social networks is to closely combine the removal of bad, toxic, false, and uncultured content with the dissemination and propagation of information and content from sources that are guaranteed to be accurate, objective, positive, and healthy, promoting and honoring human values ​​in life, helping society and people to become more and more perfect.

Indeed, in recent times, authorities and cross-border platform providers have taken drastic actions to reduce harmful content on social networks. The Ministry of Information and Communications said that in the first 6 months of 2023, Facebook removed 2,549 posts, 12 accounts, 54 advertising pages, YouTube platform removed 6,101 videos, 7 channels, TikTok removed 415 links and 149 violating accounts.

Besides, from a management perspective, Mr. Le Quang Tu Do - Director of the Department of Radio, Television and Electronic Information shared that, in the past 5 years, the Ministry of Information and Communications has synchronously deployed many solutions.

The first and most important solution is that if you want to manage, you have to see. Therefore, you have to develop a monitoring system. Up to now, the Ministry has developed a national cyberspace monitoring center, scanning and processing, combining automation, applying artificial intelligence and humans to detect bad and toxic information, fake news on the internet, and tracing to find identities.

Second, if you can see it, you have to be able to handle it. To handle it, you have to perfect the tools and have adequate legal regulations to handle it. Recently, the Ministry of Information and Communications issued Decree 15 and then Decree 14 to quickly update new violations to be punished. The Ministry of Public Security issued Decree 53, guiding the Law on Cyber ​​Security in more detail. Recently, there was Decree 13 on protecting users' personal data. Update to have additional regulations that are stricter, more complete and can be handled.

Third, it is necessary to warn. Seeing and handling is only the tip of the iceberg, the root is people's awareness. If all 100 million people are not aware, there is no way to handle it. Therefore, the Ministry of Information and Communications also promotes propaganda to raise awareness and handle some typical cases to deter.

Recently, the regulation of “identification” registration for social network users, to authenticate user accounts via mobile phone numbers in Vietnam when registering to set up social network accounts is also a solution of interest. However, the collection, storage and use of personal information of users must comply with regulations on personal data protection to ensure privacy and information security for users. And that continues to be a task that managers need to do better. In a joint effort, the Ministry of Information and Communications wants to warn: cyberspace is not virtual space!

3. Where are journalists in this story, what do they do to fulfill the responsibility of a “reliable source of information”, of a force entrusted with the mission of “leading the way” in news? In the context, the press no longer has a “monopoly” on news, readers have many ways and means to access information, but it must be affirmed that information on the mainstream press and media system has not lost its role, but has even become more important. And that “trustworthiness” is the key for the press to survive and assert itself in the digital environment… “Where there are readers, there we are” - this declaration has been put forth by many press agencies as proof of their responsibility to serve the public.

In fact, in a multi-platform environment with today's chaotic news, what content to present and how to counter information to always be in the "mainstream information" is a problem that journalists are constantly looking for solutions to. Doing a good job of leading information and gaining and maintaining the attention of readers, while most press agencies today have to be financially independent... requires the press to make more efforts to hone their ideology, knowledge and ethics. And of course, aiming to build a healthy and civilized cyberspace, each journalist also needs to continue to train themselves, discipline themselves, and become a bright spot in cultural and civilized behavior in the cyber environment.

In addition, creating a healthy cultural environment in cyberspace, along with the process of "fighting", we must actively "build"... Experts believe that "occupying" and mastering information in "Internet space" through spreading more positive news, kindness, compassion... is also something that the press and media need to pay more attention to and promote to become a conscientious and visionary guider of public opinion. Journalists, in addition to making efforts to refute bad and toxic information on the internet, in addition to contributing to the work of preventing fake news and negative news, "fanning" the flame of culture, responsibility, and national pride to gradually eliminate negative assessments by international organizations about the uncivilized behavior of Vietnamese people online... is also feasible.

It can be said that polluted air is toxic to the lungs, and bad information is harmful to the brain. The “lack of civilization” in cyberspace is also the “cloud” that needs to be cleared away to return “a warm, sunny sky”. When the press takes on the responsibility of guiding and guiding the public, journalists need to continue to make efforts more than ever. This battle requires determination, perseverance and joint efforts!

Ha Van

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/sat-thuong-khong-la-ao-tra-gia-cung-phai-thuc-post262559.html