Over Half a Million Websites Showing Child Sex Abuse Have Been Blocked in the Philippines

More than 522,000 websites showing child sexual abuse materials have been blocked in the first nine months of 2022, the PLDT Group said on Tuesday (January 3). 

The telco group said it used “organically developed blocking technology” specifically designed to combat online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC).

“Our pioneering Child Protection Platform has allowed us to block CSAM online on the more difficult content level,” PLDT Chief Information Security Officer Angel Redoble said. “By the end of November, we have prevented more than 1.3 billion attempts to open child abuse content.”

ALSO READ

The Philippines Is Number One in the World... in Child Sex Exploitation

Believe Your Child If They Report Sexual Abuse, Says Expert

A member of the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection’s Project Arachnid, the PLDT Group said its partnership with the two international groups played a significant role in boosting the reach of its Child Protection Platform. PLDT and Smart’s Cyber Security Operations Group (CSOG) regularly receives hashes pertaining to CSAM from the two organizations that the telcos immediately block.  

“We have adopted the Children’s Rights and Business Principles framework and enacted a Child Safeguarding Policy that now guides us in applying a child rights lens into our policies, technology solutions, and shared value partnerships, from inside our organization, and outwards, to the communities where we operate,” said Melissa Vergel De Dios, Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of Investor Relations at PLDT and Smart.  

Besides joining several conferences and partnering with advocacy groups to combat OSAEC, PLDT and Smart say they actively participated in strengthening Republic Act No. 11930 or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) Act that was passed into law recently. 

The Group also said it pushed for the inclusion of the “Good Samaritan” clause that would empower internet service providers (ISP) to immediately take down offensive materials without being held civilly, criminally, or administratively liable.

In 2020, a study found that the Philippines has become a global hotspot for internet-based child sex exploitation. The estimated prevalence rate of internet-based child sexual exploitation in the Philippines more than tripled—from 43 out of every 10,000 Internet Protocol (IP) addresses used for child sexual exploitation in 2014 to 149 out of every 10,000 in 2017.

The Philippines also received more than eight times as many referrals for online sex exploitation of children (OSEC) as any other country during the 2010-2017 baseline period.