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Social networks and battle against fake news, toxic bloggers and self-claimed journalists (Part I)
Social networks and battle against fake news, toxic bloggers and self-claimed journalists (Part I)
1/3/17
Chaos of social networks and fake news
Recently,
there were some articles and video clips with distorted information about the
Party’s and State’s policies as well as about State and Party leaders on social
networks, such as Facebook and Youtube, leaving negative impacts on the public
opinion.
As
more citizen journalists have taken to social media and blogs to write articles
and express opinions, more and more toxic websites have appeard illegally on
the Internet. Before there are Dan Lam Bao (the People Report)
and Quan Lam Bao (Senior Officials Working as Journalists) have
recently run a number of articles focusing on an intensifying battle between
factions in the communist country’s ruling class which almost are distortions.
The authorities said that they have slandered the country's leadership,
fabricated and distorted information, agitated against the party and the state,
and caused suspicion and mistrust in society. The blogs were described as
villainous ploys of hostile forces, calling civil servants not to read them and
appealled for serious punishment for those responsible.
However,
these kinds of websites have not reduced but flourished due to the development
of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. These new type of
websites are even more dangerous with fake information they spread. Fake news
is the latest culprit in the continuing saga of How The Internet Ruined
Everything.
On
Youtube, you can see many accounts like “Mr.Lêcongnhan” operated since 2010
spreading more than 1.700 clips with 180 million views; “Đất nước Việt Nam”
operated since 2010 spreading more than 800 clips with 60 million views; “DTV”
operated since 2014 spreading more than 400 clips with 110 million views. In
2016, there are new ones like “108TV Channel” operated since August spreading
more than 500 clips with 20 million views; “Tin nóng Việt Nam” operated since
July spreading more than 800 clips with 15 million views; “NHD TV” operated
since September spreading more than 500 clips with 14 million views.
On
Facebook, many artists in Vietnam have to raised their concern about numerous
fake profiles on Facebook that are using their names to commit fraud. Comedian
and TV personality Tran Thanh posted on his own Facebook page that
there were too many people following a fake account. “Why do so many people
believe in a fake account that is tricking people into giving them money? Calm
down and be careful everyone,” he wrote on his page.
Comedian
Hoai Linh has as much as 200 fake Facebook pages. He has complained numerous
times and warned people to not trust fake pages to avoid unfortunate
situations. “A Facebook page is calling for charity donations in my
name. Please be careful with frauds like this. I’m asking the authorities to
investigate this page and those behind it. My only official page has
a verification sticker by the name and six million followers. Thanks
everyone,” he said.
Most
of the fake pages cheat people into fraudulent charity scams while
others were used to earn profits from advertising. Some pages are created to
have high numbers of followers to be sold at high prices. The mother of an
anonymous beauty queen said various fake pages had been created after her
daughter won a runner-up title. A fake page’s owner asked them to pay VND50m
(USD2,200) to hand over the page or shut it down.
Kieu
Anh Vu from Le Nguyen Law Office in HCM City said such actions could face fines
of VND10m to VND20m. People that distort information to slander and insult the
reputation of individuals or organisations can be prosecuted and face from
three to seven years imprisonment.
As you’ve likely heard by now,
Facebook has taken its war against ‘fake news’ to a whole other level —
employing third party media and fact-checking organizations to judge whether
news items are legitimate — to the consternation of countless users who see the
platform overstepping red lines./. (to be continued)
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All comments [ 11 ]
Fake news have become a serious problem in our society that might creat chaos and harms to people and the country's interests.
Recently, on Facebook, a fabricated clip about red stream from Formosa's sewages has spread and caused controversy about negative impacts of social networks.
Facebook has been under fire for failing to stem a wave of fake news, which according to some critics may have helped the election of Republican property tycoon Donald Trump by spreading unfounded negative news about his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
Facebook, the world's largest social media network with about 1.7 billion users each month, has been criticized for its role in spreading fake stories and misinformation. Twitter, with about 140 million daily users, plays a crucial role in breaking news and disseminating eyewitness content.
It's time to battle with misinformation on the Internet.
In the old days, people went to the tea shop to get their news. Now, they go to Facebook. People are so dependent on social networks.
A big problem here is that the internet has broken down the traditional distinction between professional news-gathering and amateur rumor-mongering.
More and more people are getting their news from the internet, putting more and more power in the hands of companies like Google, Twitter, and especially Facebook.
social media has drastically lowered barriers to entry in the news business. It has always been easy for anyone to publish a website, of course. But as news consumption is increasingly driven by social media sharing, it’s becoming easier than ever for no-name sites to reach a big audience.
Problems with fake news and fraudulent reporters have existed for over a decade in Vietnam, with people often presenting themselves as journalists and threatening companies with negative coverage in an attempt to extort money.
At the same time, a handful of big tech companies — Twitter, Google, and especially Facebook — have gained a huge and growing influence over what news people see.
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