MANILA — The ban on tech platform Discord was lifted after “successful negotiations,” Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Aguda said on Thursday.
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Discord laid out commitments to address the government’s serious concerns over nihilistic violent extremism (NVE), grooming, radicalization of young Filipinos, and other threats against online safety, according to Aguda.
“Inaalis na natin ang ban na ipinatupad ng ating pamahalaan simula kahapon sa online platform ng Discord. Ito po'y matapos ang isang successful negotiation namin sa kanila kani-kanina lang,” Aguda said in a press briefing.
Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) Executive Director Renato Paraiso said Discord has agreed to help the government identify and monitor threat actors on its platform.
Paraiso said that around 5 p.m. Wednesday, they wrote to the National Telecommunications Commission to implement the ban.
“Dapat priority ang online child safety po natin,” Paraiso said.
Commenting on the pushback on the ban on Discord, Paraiso said they understand that the platform has many Filipino users.
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“We understand there's a certain segment of society na gumagamit nito. Mas madali ho ‘yung conversation doon sa mga tao na na-displace, naapektuhan. Madalas madali ho ‘yung usapan namin na paano tutulungan ng pamahalaan malipat ‘yung negosyo nila or malipat ‘yung trabaho nila kaysa ‘yung usapan doon sa mga magulang na nawalan ng anak,” Paraiso said.
Paraiso also clarified that their previous directive on a 24-hour ultimatum was not necessarily about Reddit and Discord setting up a local office, but simply establishing a Philippine presence.
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AGE VERIFICATION
In the US, Discord recently launched a revamped age-verification system, introducing enhanced privacy safeguards.
The system classifies accounts as either "Adult" or "Teen" to comply with expanding global child safety legislation.
"To help Discord users have an experience appropriate for their age, we have implemented additional protections on teen accounts while maintaining the full Discord experience for adult users," Discord said in a blog post.
Accounts designated for younger users will face restricted access to sensitive content and limits on interactions with strangers.