Gov’t calls for social network ethics code

The Government has urged the Ministry of Information and Communications to build a code of ethics on social networks for internet service providers and users to create a healthy networking atmosphere in the country.- Photo zing.vn

Deputy Prime Minister Trương Hoa Binh made the request at a conference on the implementation of National Assembly resolutions on cyber security surveillance yesterday.

Bình said the Government had asked the ministry to develop a code of ethics on social networks operating in Vietnam such as Facebook and YouTube.

It had also asked professional agencies to co-operate with Facebook and Google to remove false and misleading information that runs counter to the Party and State’s viewpoints, policies and political platform.

The Government had asked network operators to deploy new technical solutions to effectively prevent the spread of false information on websites and social networks with international domain names and hosting servers located in other countries.

According to the report, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc directed the ministry to create a national cyber security monitoring centre. The centre, which was part of the project on supervising the cyber security of IT systems to respond to cyber attacks, would automatically review, discover and evaluate information on the Internet.

There are some 55 million internet users in the country, accounting for 57 per cent of the population. Of these, 50 million access the internet via mobile phones.

Each user spends between 2.5 and seven hours each day on the internet, with Facebook and YouTube being the most popular websites.

Also in the field of information and communications, the Government has instructed the ministry to study and implement comprehensive measures on management.

Mobile telecommunications enterprises such as VNPT, Viettel, MobiFone, Gmobile and Vietnamobile have been required to guide customers to update and register their information for better management. They were also encouraged to have economic measures to boost mobile subscribers.

The government has determined that the digital content industry was an important factor in sustaining the growth of the telecoms industry, contributing to establishing the country’s digital economy.

In order to develop the country’s digital content ecosystem, the Government has directed an overview of current status, development potentials, barriers and legal deficiencies to solve difficulties and promote digital content creation.