The Hanoi information department has put off an online survey asking city-dwellers whether the city’s public loudspeaker system should be removed, saying alleged hackers had manipulated the results.

The survey, launched on the Hanoi portal on January 25, asked pollsters to evaluate the effectiveness of the system, consisting of loudspeakers installed across the capital city, in spreading news to local residents.

The poll was launched following widespread complaints that the loudspeakers are too noisy, affecting the lives of people who live near them, and that such a means of spreading information is no longer necessary in these times of the Internet and social media.

However, on Tuesday, the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications had to suspend the voting, saying “the number of voters had increased at an unusual speed starting Sunday.”

By Sunday, the poll had received some 3,000 votes, but the number surged to 178,000, or 60 times, just two days later.

Following the spike of voters, those opposing the idea of scrapping the public loudspeakers outnumbered the supporters.