By Ashley Erika O. Jose, Reporter and Pexcel John Bacon
THE Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Thursday lifted a ban on Discord less than a day after blocking the platform, following the company’s commitment to work with the government on stronger safety measures.
The agency blocked access to Discord on Wednesday evening due to security concerns as Philippine authorities crack down on online platforms following a series of fatal school shootings.
“Discord reached out to DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) and CICC and has committed to immediately implement steps to strengthen their platform’s security measures,” ICT Secretary Henry Rhoel R. Aguda told an online media briefing on Thursday.
CICC initially set a 24-hour deadline for Reddit and Discord to establish a local presence, which it extended as the platforms agreed to cooperation on strengthening online safety. It noted, however, that the extension only applied to Reddit, leading to the ban of Discord.
Discord is set to implement online safety measures on its platform, CICC Executive Director Renato A. Paraiso said in the same briefing, adding that like Reddit, Discord will also establish a green lane to coordinate monitoring and help address threats on its platform.
Scam Watch Pilipinas Co-Founder and Co-Lead Convenor Jocel de Guzman said they are opposing the blocking of Discord and that the government should shift its focus on criminal harmful content instead of imposing blanket restrictions that affect legitimate users.
“Blanket blocking is a reactive policy that affects not only bad actors but also Filipinos who legitimately use Discord for virtual assistance, freelancing, education, technology, gaming, content creation and professional communities,” he said in a Viber message.
Mr. de Guzman said that the DICT should move toward a more strategic approach instead of blocking access to online platforms.
“This reactive approach must stop before it normalizes increasingly draconian restrictions on digital platforms,” he said.
Further, Digital Pinoys national campaigner Ronald B. Gustilo said that Discord’s cooperation with the DICT will help strengthen online safety and measures against cybercrimes.
“The establishment of clear channels for government coordination and a local point of contact can help facilitate faster and more effective responses to legitimate concerns raised by Philippine authorities,” he said.
META MOUMeanwhile, the DICT on Thursday backed the House of Representatives’ push for stronger online safety rules as the government continues to press Meta to sign an agreement on safeguards for Filipino children.
Mr. Aguda said stronger legislation is needed to address online grooming, nihilistic violent extremism (NVE) and other threats to minors across digital platforms.
“I think that would be the language of the expected laws on our enhanced online safety laws, and we are thankful to Congress, both the House of Representatives and the Senate,” Mr. Aguda said during a press conference.
The DICT chief said the government’s negotiations with Discord and Reddit showed the need for digital platforms to establish direct channels with Philippine authorities.
Similar accountability measures should eventually apply to other platforms, noting that NVE recruitment and grooming activities can move from one platform to another, Mr. Aguda said.
“We should look at all of them,” he said in Filipino.
The government’s concern over online safety has also extended to Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
The government has been negotiating with Meta for more than a year and has sent two letters to Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Mr. Aguda said.
The DICT has also prepared a draft memorandum of understanding containing safety protocols requested from Meta, but the secretary said the company has yet to sign it.
“We already have a draft MOU containing all the safety protocols that we are requesting and demanding,” he said in Filipino. “They agreed to it, but until now—I want to tell the public—they still haven’t signed that draft.”
He said the government has sought help from the Philippine embassy in the United States and the Department of Foreign Affairs in reaching Mr. Zuckerberg.
“I still haven’t lost hope that Mr. Zuckerberg, on his part, will understand what our country is going through,” Mr. Aguda said in Filipino.
The House earlier approved on third reading House Bill No. 9461, or the proposed Child Online Safety and Protection Act of 2026, which seeks to strengthen protections for children in digital spaces and give authorities stronger tools against child sexual abuse and exploitation and other emerging online threats.
Mr. Aguda said the government’s focus in Discord and Reddit came from investigations showing that the platforms had been used in recent NVE-related incidents.
He said authorities were also coordinating with the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation in tracking individuals in NVE and online grooming.
CICC Executive Director Renato “Aboy” Paraiso said the government would continue monitoring the commitments made by Discord and maintain direct communication with the platform.
“We still cannot afford to be complacent now that we have an agreement with both platforms,” he added in Filipino.