When Facebook is exploited to become a place to 'disrupt' information

Easily create fanpages and groups on Facebook

Hai Duong currently has many fanpages and groups of organizations and individuals on Facebook. While most pages and groups only post information for work purposes, positive images and stories, many pages and groups easily post false information, even violating the law or invading privacy, violating copyright...

There are many reasons why fanpages and groups appear with high density. It is very easy to set up, just need a Facebook account, no need to ask permission from the authorities... Fanpages and groups with many members and followers regularly post sales advertisements, real estate business... can bring admins a considerable amount of income.

On January 11, Hai Duong electronic newspaper reported that the page "Nam Sach mot mien que" published false information about a child being kidnapped to China. In fact, the child was abandoned and raised by the police, waiting for someone to come and claim him, and this story happened in 2017.

From December 25, 2024, social media users in Vietnam will be required to identify their accounts via mobile phone numbers if they want to post, comment or livestream. However, fanpages and groups still allow anonymous posting, which allows Facebook users to freely post unverified content on the platform. An admin with experience managing many fanpages and groups said that some people create pages with the purpose of generating income but are unclear about legal regulations.

In Hai Duong, many Facebook account owners have been punished by the police for posting unverified information, causing public confusion, especially during storm No. 3 (Yagi) in 2024.

There are people in this province (even abroad) but the page administrator is in another province, making it even more difficult to verify the information posted. At the end of 2024, the admins of the fanpages "Beat Bac Ninh", "Beat Thuan Thanh", "Beat Bac Ninh - Video & Photo - Uncensored" were fined by the Thuan Thanh Town Police (Bac Ninh) for posting unverified information with false content. This admin is in Lac Hong commune, Van Lam district (Hung Yen), has nothing to do with Bac Ninh.

Fanpages and groups with thousands, even tens of thousands of members and followers, if posting false information, are very dangerous. According to the Department of Information and Communications of Hai Duong province, this agency has handled individuals posting false information but has not handled the administrators of the groups. Monitoring to detect and handle this will be carried out more strictly in the coming time.

Think before you like and share.

Among hundreds of fanpages and groups with many members and followers in Hai Duong today, there are pages that have clear criteria and purposes, only posting positive and fun information and the admin is responsible for the content and does not leave it open for members to post themselves.

As the former administrator of the Electronic Information Portal of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Hai Duong province, Mr. Do Duc Kien is currently the administrator of the Checkin Hai Duong page with thousands of followers. Mr. Kien said that when launching the Checkin Hai Duong page, he established clear criteria and only revolved around the topics of news, tourism, and cuisine. The page also only uses copyrighted or permitted images and articles. The page administrator is responsible for the content and strictly controls comments, and can delete negative comments, violations, etc.

In addition to reputable personal pages that comply with regulations, pages of organizations, especially pages of press agencies, are often more trustworthy.

According to Mr. Do Duc Hai, a long-time Facebook user in Hai Duong, Facebook users have the freedom to become members and followers of any fanpage or group. However, they must be careful when liking and sharing posts to avoid becoming a tool to spread illegal information.

"One reason why many fanpages and groups currently post confusing information is because the owners of these pages do not have enough tools, people or the ability to verify information. Meanwhile, some members may lack legal knowledge, post information without verification, without supervision from administrators, and are even willing to attract views to increase sales interactions," said Mr. Do Duc Hai.