The Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) held a discussion on building a set of code of ethics on social networks in Hanoi on May 17, marking the first time a government agency touched about the issue. The event took place amid rising fake news and denunciation on the social networks, Minister of Information and Communication Truong Minh Tuan said. Minister Tuan cited several research studies on social networks that it is necessary to build a code of conduct for such environment to limit the harm of fake news. He noted that this code would act as a management mechanism in addition to the government’s regulations. In building the code, the government official said it must not go against Vietnam’s commitments to freedom and business development. The system must follow international standards and must not discriminate any individual. So far, there are 366 social networks allowed to operate in Vietnam, of which 360 networks run globally. The latest report in 2018 by “We are Social” showed that around 55 million Vietnamese are using social networks, of which 50 million access these networks on their mobile phones. Vietnamese spend an average time of 7 hours on the internet and 2.5 hours on social networks. (CafeF; ICT; Infonet; Dan Tri; VietnamNet May 18)
