CICC orders social media platforms to act faster against online threats

By San Matildo

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) has issued a directive to social media platforms and online service providers to take immediate and proactive action against harmful online content, citing delays and barriers in current cooperation.

“Effective immediately, all social media platforms and online service providers are directed to take proactive and immediate action to remove or disable content involved in: Illegal online gambling; Online scams; Fake news; and Deepfakes,” CICC Acting Executive Director Renato Paraiso said via the CICC statement.

The agency said that while international platforms do communicate and act on reports, the process is often slow, leaving Filipinos vulnerable to cybercrimes.

“We’d like to take this opportunity to thank these platforms, they do communicate with us, and action does happen in our partnership with them. However, these relationships still leave much to be desired, especially in how long resolution is currently taking,” Paraiso noted.

The agency stressed that legal and procedural hurdles abroad, compounded by the lack of local offices of major platforms, make it difficult to swiftly resolve urgent cases. This, it said, undermines efforts to protect citizens online.

“Further, we cannot effectively address cybercriminals not because of distance, but because legal and procedural barriers abroad-and the absence of local offices of major platforms- make it difficult to resolve urgent cases swiftly. This delay undermines our collective efforts to secure the digital space for all,” said Paraiso.

Under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, the CICC directed platforms to proactively remove or disable content related to illegal online gambling, online scams, fake news, and deepfakes—without waiting for the government to first flag them.

“At present, platforms often wait for government to first identify and report illegal accounts, pages, or content before taking them down,” he said.

The statement also raised concern that platforms rarely update Philippine authorities on their actions and do not acknowledge the impact of online harms on Filipinos.

Non-compliance with the directive, the CICC warned, would be treated as “refusal to cooperate with lawful state action.”

Reaffirming its mandate, the CICC emphasized its commitment to act decisively to ensure the safety of Filipinos online, declaring that public safety is “non-negotiable.”