The Minister of Information and Communications (MIC), Nguyen Manh Hung, recently answered questions from legislators about digital transformation and the government’s fight against fake news.
Digital transformation has been identified by the Party and State as a new mode of development helping accelerate national industrialisation and modernisation. However, several issues regarding regulations, management, culture, human resources, enforcement, and budget pose a hindrance to growth. Hung claimed that if Vietnam doesn’t quickly address these problems, it will not only fail to capitalise on the chances of digital transformation but also face considerable risks during this process.
He noted that digital platforms are a breakthrough measure for promoting national digital transformation. As digital data is considered a type of resource, MIC has focused on developing digital platforms. This year, 52 digital platforms at the national level have been put into use; they have recorded hundreds of millions of downloads so far, he said.
Countries across the world view talent as the fundamental resource and the decisive factor in the mastery and application of science and technology. To boost human resources in this field, it is necessary to develop digital universities, which will be a measure for quickly creating digital technology human resources, Hung explained. MIC has also announced plans to form online training platforms for different groups of learners. Among those platforms, the resource platform “One Touch” has been running for six months, and about ten million Vietnamese people have used it to study, according to Hung.
Regarding the fight against fake news in cyberspace, Hung said that authorities have issued regulations stipulating acts and responsibilities of relevant sides, reduced the time limits for Internet service providers to remove fake news and harmful content (from 48 to 24 hours), and increased fines for fake news spreading by three-fold. However, the fines are equivalent to just one-tenth of those in other countries.
In the time ahead, MIC will urge the government to consider heavier fines to deter acts of spreading fake news, he said, noting the most fundamental solution is that the entire society, from ministries, sectors and organisations to individuals and families, takes an active and proactive part in this work.
In 2020, Vietnam approved a National Digital Transformation Programme by 2025, with an orientation toward 2030. The strategy helps accelerate digital transformation through changes in awareness, enterprise strategies, and incentives toward the digitalisation of businesses, administration, and production activities.
The programme targets businesses, cooperatives, and business households that want to adopt digital transformation to improve their production, business efficiency, and competitiveness. The plan aims to have 80% of public services at level 4 online. Over 90% of work records at ministerial and provincial levels will be online while 80% of work records at the district level and 60% of work records at the commune level will be processed online.
