Be cautious with the form of creating "virtual public opinion
Freedom of speech is one of the basic human rights, recognized in many international documents as well as in the Constitutions of many countries.
However, freedom of speech is not an absolute right. All freedoms are exercised within the framework of the Constitution and laws, and the legitimate rights and interests of the State, organizations and other individuals must be respected.
This is also consistent with international norms, in which the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) allows countries to apply necessary restrictions to protect national security, public order, social ethics as well as the honor and prestige of others.
In the context of the explosion of social networks and digital media, it is also being exploited by some individuals, groups and organizations to serve their own purposes, even some individuals and organizations use it to distort the Party's guidelines and policies, and the State's laws.
One of the common tricks is to hide behind social criticism to manipulate public opinion. Many contents are cut and pasted information, swapped concepts, subjectively attributed or intentionally distorted the nature of political, economic, and social events.
When functional agencies have not yet made official conclusions, they have hastily made accusations, attributed responsibility, incited psychological dissatisfaction and turned social networks into a "public opinion court".
Notably, to create a sense of social consensus, subjects often use virtual account networks, automated software, simultaneous sharing, organized comments or running advertisements to amplify the spread of information.
Preventing the abuse of "freedom of speech" for distortion and sabotage
Reality shows that social criticism and distortion are two completely different concepts. Genuine social criticism always stems from the common interests of the country, based on objective truth, scientific reasoning, constructive spirit and civic responsibility. Conversely, distortion is an act of intentionally distorting the truth, cutting information, making unfounded accusations or using incitement to create distorted perceptions in society.
Therefore, it is not possible to unify the handling of acts of slander, insulting honor, and spreading false information with "limiting the right to freedom of speech". In fact, it is protecting the environment for exercising the right to freedom of speech in a healthy, civilized and lawful manner.
The fight against acts of abusing freedom of speech to oppose the country needs to be deployed synchronously.
First of all, it is necessary to improve the law on network space management, strictly handle acts of spreading false information, slander, insulting honor, dignity and infringing national security. The implementation must be objective, in the correct order, avoiding lax management or restricting the legitimate freedom of citizens.
It is necessary to strengthen legal education, improve digital capacity, especially for young people. Everyone needs to know how to verify information sources, identify information manipulation tricks, and not share or comment in the crowd without verification. Personal responsibility must become a cultural standard in cyberspace.
Official press agencies also need to promote the role of orienting public opinion, providing complete, fast, objective and transparent information to limit information gaps - a favorable environment for fake news and distorted arguments to develop.
At the same time, it is necessary to promote the role of cadres, party members, experts, scientists and core forces in cyberspace in proactively fighting and refuting wrong and hostile views with scientific reasoning, authentic evidence and a moderate and persuasive attitude.
