Fake news is high-level misinformation. Of the four levels of misinformation, fake news is identified at two levels: level 3 – imposter content with embellishments, exaggerations, and distortions of truth and level 4 – fabricated content that is unreal or never existed in reality.

To identify fake news, it is necessary to trace the motives of the media subject or the source of the information. This includes subjects spreading fake news with intentional motives and intentionally giving false information (adding, exaggerating, distorting, or fabricating the truth). Recognizing true news makes it easier to spot fake news.

2. Purpose and target of fake news in the field of ideology, theory, literature, and art on the Internet in Vietnam today

Hostile, reactionary and politically opportunistic forces spreading fake news in the fields of ideology, theory, literature, and art often aim at the following two main objectives:

First, to take advantage of social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube in combination with foreign mass media channels, using domestic subjects to collect information, give interviews on sensitive issues, spread fake news and other forms of disinformation and misinformation, create and carry out anti-communication “campaigns” that destroy the ideological foundation, and directly attack the leadership of the Party, the management of the State and the legal system of Vietnam.

Second, to produce and distribute fake news on social networks to discredit the Party’s leadership, openly express opposing views, arouse hatred for the regime, praise the old regime, and exploit people’s pressing psychology, causing division among the masses to create an unstable Vietnamese society, a divided State, a corruption government and bureaucracy in the eyes of the public and international community.

Disseminating false and misleading information, with the highest level being fake news, is the most important link in the chain of countermeasures in cyberspace by hostile forces that work against the government.

The target audiences of fake news in the fields of ideology, theory, literature, and art are:

(1) Students;

(2).Emerging key opinion leaders (KOLs) (public opinion leaders, influencers, especially on social media) with a large number of followers;

(3) Experts, journalists, writers, poets, and literary and art critics who worship “free speech” but lack political vision and sensitivity, vigilance, and self-discipline, as well as self-protection in the digital environment;

(4) Some people who are dissatisfied with the regime; political opportunists;

(5) People with low access to official information who spend most of their time on social networks for communication and entertainment;

(6) Unemployed people.

3. Causes of increasing fake news in the fields of ideology, theory, literature, and art on the Internet in Vietnam today

The basic causes of the increase in fake news in the fields of ideology, theory, literature and art in Vietnam today, include:

(1) Tactics against the state, implementing a “peaceful evolution” of reactionary and hostile forces at home and abroad;

(2) The fast development and strong influence of social networks in the current 4.0 technology context. When digital technology and platforms for social media develop too quickly, it is possible for hostile forces and political opportunists to use these technologies and platforms to spread false, misleading, and dangerous information;

(3) The management of information and communication on social networks in Vietnam are still limited. One of the important links in the “machinery” to organize anti-destructive activities of hostile forces, reactionaries, and political opportunities is “information warfare in cyberspace.” The ministry-level research project “Management of information and communication on social networks in Vietnam today” led by Do Thi Thu Hang, Academy of Journalism and Communication shows that there is a serious shortage in number and capacity for information and communication management positions on social networks, leading to the limited identification and control of information and communication flows on social networks.