Particularly, they will continue to enhance the use of social media listening software Social Beat to trace accounts that engage in sharing misinformation and distorted facts, thereby affecting the credibility of agencies, organizations and causing panic among the people.
On March 14, the Department of Information and Communications held a press conference to answer about the issue of forgery and misleading information related to activities and misrepresented images of Fahasa bookstore, such as recruitment, buying and selling and closure of operations which are currently spreading on social media.
As reported by the Sai Gon Giai Phong (SGGP) Newspaper, in recent days, there have been posts on social media related to the Ho Chi Minh City Book Distribution Company – Fahasa with advertisements claiming "bankruptcy, closure and liquidation of all bookstore's branches" accompanied by the background images of Fahasa. Not only the bookstore but also the Ho Chi Minh City Book Street has faced the similar problem, with some Facebook accounts running ads with images of the Book Street, revolving around the closure of shops due to decreased sales, offering free books and financial shares to customers.
In the meeting with the press, Mr. Trinh Huu Anh, Head of the Publishing, Printing, and Distribution Department of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, stated that the Department had conducted inspections and confirmed that the information was completely false. These were accounts impersonating Fahasa, and the use of images of the Book Street to illustrate articles containing fake information is a violation of laws.
"This is the act of providing, sharing misinformation, distorted facts, fabricating, and offending the dignity and reputation of others on social media, affecting the credibility of agencies, organizations and individuals. Those violate prohibited acts regarding cybersecurity as stipulated in Point d, Clause 1, Article 8 of the Cybersecurity Law 2018: Misinformation causes panic among the people, damage to economic and social activities, difficulties for the activities of state agencies or officials and infringing upon the rights, legitimate interests of other agencies, organizations and individuals. Specifically, it affects the image, reputation of Fahasa and the Ho Chi Minh City Book Street" Mr. Trinh Huu Anh stated.
Moreover, he also expressed that the department is highly supportive of publishing units and assured that there is always support of the authority in situations like these to protect the rights of businesses in the publishing industry.
The department will continue to coordinate with relevant authorities to monitor and identify offenders engaging in such behaviors, and firmly handle them according to legal regulations.
"The Department of Information and Communications urges every social media user to be cautious with fake news and misinformation, as well as absolutely not be affected by such false information that may impact their families and themselves," Mr. Trinh Huu Anh said.
"In the current difficult economic context, not only in the publishing industry, but also in other sectors, misinformation and destructive images have a significant impact and can lead to misunderstandings among the public and readers when accessing information related to publishing units," he added.
