Towards cleaning up cyberspace

The need to identify social media accounts

Recently, at the explanation session of the National Assembly 's Judiciary Committee, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam said that by the end of this year at the latest, there will be a new decree requiring social media account owners to carry out identification.

All social media account owners, whether individuals or organizations, will have to identify themselves. This will apply to social media such as Facebook, Youtube, Tiktok, etc. Unidentified social media accounts will be blocked and handled at different levels.

Requiring identification of social media accounts is considered a necessary action to create a clean and transparent cyberspace; regulations apply to both cross-border social networks as well as foreign OTT applications. If these applications and platforms do not meet identification requirements, they will be blocked and handled.

Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Lam at the explanation session of the National Assembly's Judiciary Committee. (Photo: VTC)

In fact, anonymous accounts have been causing many online scams. The common point of online scams is the use of unverified accounts or fake information, from personal accounts to accounts impersonating large businesses and government agencies. According to the US Federal Trade Commission, the damage caused by fraud on social networks is up to 1.2 billion dollars in 2022. These are measurable material damages, but the mental damage is difficult to measure, in which online bullying is a burning issue in all countries around the world and Vietnam is no exception.

Many students are not only teased in real life but also have their pictures posted online to mock them. This information is kept online for a long time, posing many risks. Virtual bullying is real depression. A recent study by the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City shows that students who are bullied through social networks account for the highest rate compared to other forms of online bullying. These students are also twice as depressed as other students.

It can be said that social networks in the digital age are considered powerful “weapons”. Users sometimes feel like they are surrounded and suffocated in a “sea” of information, especially when fake news is rampant. Meanwhile, not everyone has the ability to filter information and knows how to use social networks safely and intelligently.

The widespread dissemination of fake news and false information on cyberspace has directly or indirectly affected the perception, thinking and behavior of users. To be more precise, the indiscriminate dissemination of fake news has had and is having a significant impact on the psychology and social life of people, especially young people.

Commenting on this issue, Dr. Phan Van Kien - Director of the Institute of Journalism and Communication, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, said that anonymity on social networks is one of the basic characteristics of interactions on the internet space. This space is still called virtual space by many researchers. And the virtual nature of accounts on that space is a basic characteristic. It creates a loose bond between participating individuals in demonstrating social responsibility and social awareness.

"Therefore, if identification helps to make this virtual nature disappear or reduce it, I am sure it will reduce negative phenomena such as fake news, distorted news, fraud, bullying, or interactions that violate public morality," said Dr. Phan Van Kien.

Not just a mandatory administrative order

In the current context, more and more people's activities are shifting from the real environment to the digital space. Managing and identifying digital accounts will help the legal system to be applied in a unified and equal manner, regardless of real life or online, contributing to eliminating bad, wrong, illegal or harmful content to society in cyberspace. This also raises awareness and responsibility of individuals and organizations when participating in cyberspace.

However, the management agency must address many factors to realize the above proposal, including adjusting, supplementing, and renewing legal regulations, building technological solutions to support monitoring, detection, and handling, as well as persuading users to work and cooperate with service providers to comply.

Many experts consider social media account identification necessary but not easy. (Photo: ICT)

Dr. Phan Van Kien acknowledged that virtuality is a fundamental characteristic of the internet space. Once it becomes a fundamental characteristic, removing it will change the nature of this space. In other words, there is no way to completely remove the virtuality of cyberspace, or if there is a way to remove this characteristic, it will no longer be the space it originally was, both positively and negatively.

Therefore, according to Dr. Kien, the implementation of identification on the internet will face some challenges, such as: If mandatory identification is implemented according to the State's administrative management, it is very likely to lead to changes in the nature, even the disappearance of social networks as a social space on the internet. Identifying individuals with a space like the internet is extremely difficult, in the words of many experts, it is like "picking stars from the sky" because to do this, it is necessary to have the consensus of the parent companies of social networks.

As mentioned, when they agree to thoroughly identify individuals on their social networks as desired by administrative agencies, they are also accepting to turn their backs on their public. This could lead to the risk of the collapse of this platform.

"In my opinion, instead of trying to implement identification as a sole remedy and a mandatory administrative order, State management agencies should encourage individuals to voluntarily participate in social networking spaces with legitimacy. At the same time, synchronously implement many different solutions such as educating habits, improving the culture of participating in the network for the community, and even implementing some administrative procedures through social networks with the requirement of the legitimacy of the account owner... to gradually create habits for the public.

In short, we should look at social networks from many perspectives instead of just considering it as an administrative social space to carry out administrative orders," said Dr. Kien.

Spread the spirit of legitimacy

The Ministry of Information and Communications has decided to issue a "Code of Conduct on Social Networks" stipulating many specific and detailed contents on behavioral conduct as well as ethical and cultural standards on cyberspace, and recommendations for organizations, individuals, and social network service providers.

However, it is important to create awareness for social network users. Enhance the social responsibility of each person in using the network. In this story, the press has an important role and mission.

Journalists are an important nucleus in spreading the spirit of legitimacy and honesty in both carrying out the information mission as well as when participating in social networking space.

According to Dr. Phan Van Kien, journalists are an important factor in spreading the spirit of legitimacy and honesty in both carrying out the information mission and participating in the social network space. This is partly the responsibility of journalism and media training institutions in focusing on improving legal knowledge as well as ethics and social responsibility for journalists right from when they are still in school.

For example, at the Institute of Journalism and Communication, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and a number of other training institutions, subjects related to law and journalism ethics for students have long been focused on at both undergraduate and master's and doctoral levels. In addition, carefully equipping journalists with basic knowledge and culture is also a top priority. It is this basic knowledge and culture that will contribute to fostering the mettle of true journalists when participating in a diverse, complex and risky space like social networks.

It can be said that cleaning up the online environment is a legitimate demand of society. The public hopes that there will be no more "dirty" advertisements, no more traps for buyers, and no more "living" for fake news and toxic news on the internet. Currently, Vietnam has a national population data system that is being deployed to authenticate electronic identification. If this data is synchronized with social network user data, each user's behavior and statement will be closely linked to their legal responsibility, then negative violations and anti-cultural behaviors can be greatly reduced in cyberspace.

Phan Hoa Giang

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/dinh-danh-tai-khoan-mang-xa-hoi-huong-den-lam-sach-khong-gian-mang-post248905.html