The latest report issued by social media marketing firm We are Social showed that roughly 55 million Vietnamese people (57 percent) use social media. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNS/VNA)- In a bid to create a healthy networking atmosphere in the country, theMinistry of Information and Communications (MIC) has completed a code ofconduct on social networks for internet service providers and users, said MinisterNguyen Manh Hung.

He said at a meeting on November 6 that the ministry has plans to prevent thespread of negative content on the internet and social media.

The MIC would also create favourable conditions for the development of thecountry’s digital content ecosystem, fulfilling the target that users of socialmedia platforms developed by Vietnamese companies account for 50 per cent ofthe total social media users by 2020, he said.

The minister requested agencies and enterprises under his leadership to includeexpenses for information technology in their State budget estimations and speedup the building of e-government.

Agencies were asked to submit a policy on collecting fees from foreign mediaorganisations in Vietnam to fund information technology development, he said,adding that it would be about two percent for enterprises with turnover of 1trillion VND (42.7 million USD).

The ministry will focus on setting up a National Innovation System,building the 4.0 Innovation Centre in Vietnam as well as developing Vietnamesetechnology enterprises which contribute to the increase of labor productivityin all fields.  It will also concentrate resources on the development ofcyber security.

"Cyber security is considered a precondition for the development ofe-government, digital government and the digital content industry,” hetold toquoc.vn. “Vietnam must become a cyber security power.”

The MIC will also work with the State of Bank to find solutions for payments tobusinesses providing digital content services. The Ministry’s point of view isthat telecommunications accounts should be used to pay for other kinds of goodsvalued at less than 2 million VND (85 USD).

Hung also instructed agencies and units under the MIC to focus on improving thenational ranking.

Vietnam is ranked at 100 out of 193 countries all over world in information andtechnology sector while the country’s rankings in communications, cybersecurity and human resources in information and technology are still low.Therefore, it is necessary to have a concrete plan so Vietnam can move itsranking up to between 30 and 50 by 2020, he said.

The latest report issued in January this year by We are Social, a social mediamarketing ဣand advertising ꩲagency, showed around 55 million Vietnamese people,or 57 percent of the population, use social media. 64 million are online.-VNS/VNA