The man at the investigating agency. Photo Hải Phòng City's news portal

HẢI PHÒNG – A Facebook user in the northern port city of Hải Phòng has been fined VNĐ7.5 million (US$319.6) for his acts of spreading false and misleading information on cyberspace.

Local police have found that the man has repeatedly used his personal Facebook account to post articles and comments with negative and untrue content, affecting the prestige of senior Party and State leaders and the police force. He read the information on other Facebook and Youtube posts, re-posted them on his page without verification, and wrote related comments on social networks.

The act of commenting and posting articles with misleading, untrue and unverified content on social networks violates Article 101 of the Government’s Decree No. 15/2020/ND-CP dated February 3, 2020 that regulates punishments for administrative violations in the fields of post, telecommunications, radio frequencies, information technology and electronic transactions.

The wrongdoer admitted that his behaviour was illegal, pledged to voluntarily delete the offending posts and comments, and promised not to repeat them.

Considering that the violation is not serious enough to be subject to criminal prosecution, the municipal police’s department of cybersecurity and high-tech crime prevention and control decided to mete out the fine as prescribed by law. VNA/VNS