With the determination to “leave no one behind”, the entire political system has urgently taken action. The Politburo and the Secretariat quickly established five working groups to directly inspect, direct, and urge the overcoming of flood consequences in localities.
At the same time, the Politburo assigned four localities to provide food, clothing, medicine, and medical staff to heavily damaged provinces: Ha Noi supports Gia Lai; Ho Chi Minh City supports Khanh Hoa; Hai Phong supports Dak Lak; and Quang Ninh supports Lam Dong.
With the desire to minimise possible consequences, functional forces, police, and military have raced against time, rolling in the rushing water regardless of day or night.
Departments, branches, unions, social organisations, businesses, and people joined hands to donate and supply food, clothes, medicine, etc. Relief convoys from all over the country headed to the provinces affected by natural disasters.
This is a vivid demonstration of the solidarity of the people and the entire nation, adding strength to help people in flood-affected areas soon overcome the disaster and gradually stabilise their lives.
Sadly, in that context, discordant voices and ruthless actions have appeared. Taking advantage of the flood information that is a concern of the whole society, some individuals have posted unverified and false information about the natural disaster situation, as well as human and property damage.
Many AI-generated videos featuring fake scenes of people crying for help on rooftops, images of floods from many years ago labelled as “just happened”, or false rumours about “thousands of people dead”, “large dams broken”, and authorities “abandoning people” have been spreading at a dizzying speed.
Some wrongdoers take this opportunity to make personal gains by calling for charitable donations or even condemning the government and inciting dissatisfaction.
The consequences of this action are extremely unpredictable: Public opinion is confused, relief resources are dispersed, the “golden time” to save people is delayed, trust in the leadership of the Party and State is eroded, and so on.
In the face of complicated developments, on November 23, the Ministry of Public Security issued a warning about the spread of false information (especially fake news created by AI) related to the floods in the central region. At the same time, it advised social network users to be alert when viewing and sharing information and strongly condemned the act of spreading false information.
Cases of sharing due to lack of understanding will be reminded or punished according to regulations. Subjects who deliberately spread fake news, distort, cause serious consequences, or aim to sabotage will be strictly handled according to the provisions of the law, including criminal prosecution.
So far, dozens of accounts have been strictly handled by the authorities, forced to remove content, and administratively punished. This is a warning to the community to raise awareness of using social networks in a civilised and responsible manner for the benefit of individuals as well as the whole society.
Instead of going online to judge, make cruel comments, or hastily like and share unofficial information that can make you an accomplice to illegal behaviour, spread humane and kind stories with positive information.
Or if possible, each person should join in contributing their hearts and efforts through meaningful actions, standing side by side with people in flood-affected areas, and together light the fires of compassion to overcome all difficulties and challenges.
