Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - In May, Tran Thien An from the southern province ofBac Lieu was sentenced to eight years in prison for raping a 12-year-old he metvia the internet.

Living in Ho Chi Minh City, the child, N, met An on social media in October 2016. Atthe end of the month, An asked N to visit his house in Bac Lieu province, wherethe two had sexual intercourse.

An’s crime is one of many cases of wrongdoing and fraud facilitated by socialmedia. With 70 percent of the population having access to the internet and 53million people on Facebook, Vietnam faces many challenges in ensuring people,especially children, are safe on the internet.

In 2013, social media users were enraged by a young mother in the central cityof Da Nang, who took advantage of her son’s congenital heart defect tofraudulently raise money.

The mother, Nguyen Tran Hoai Tham, posted about her son’s condition on herFacebook account and asked for donations from social media users for hissurgery. It was reported that only a quarter of the 200 million VND (8,860 USD)that Tham received was spent on the surgery. She used the remaining amount tobuy expensive phones and tablets for herself.

Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Hanoi last month, Minister of Information andCommunications Truong Minh Tuan said that the rise of false information thatelicits hatred and violence and hurts the nation’s unity has rendered thenegative effects of social media undeniable. But ultimately, the actions andclaims of wrongdoers are more important than the mediums by which they aredelivered, he said.

“Social media should be considered a tool, a road used by both travellers andthieves,” he said. “Their attitude is the heart of all problems.”

False, misleading information mostly appears on foreign social media platforms,Minister Tuan added. Because social media can seem distant from concretereality, social media users think they have the freedom to say anything withouttaking responsibility for it, he said.

Vietnamese social media users are also threatened by cyber attacks.

They are among those with the lowest awareness of cyber risks in the world,said Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

“International surveys showed that while 60 percent of people in othercountries are aware of the risks of being attacked by malicious software, only11 percent of Vietnamese are,” he said.

Dr Dinh Thi Thuy Hang, Director of the Press Training Centre under the VietnamJournalists Association, said that it is necessary to establish regulations onsocial media use and teach them to children.

“For example, ‘Do not use social media to spread gossip and cruel rumours abouteach other’,” she said at a conference on communication crises in social mediain Hanoi last month. “Schools and families should make stronger efforts toeducate young social media users on these matters."

To manage information on social media more effectively, the informationministry recently requested foreign social media companies comply with Vietnam’sregulations and remove false information that harms the country.

In particular, it has requested the video sharing website Youtube remove about5,000 videos with inappropriate content, said Minister Truong Minh Tuan.

The ministry will revise its legal documents to ensure stricter measuresagainst cyber fraudulence, he added. It will focus on promoting Vietnamesesocial media platforms in the coming time, he said.-VNA