PLDT, Smart to block over 100 sites hosting school shooting, extreme violence footage

PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc. are set to block more than 100 websites found streaming or hosting footage of school shootings and other acts of extreme violence as part of efforts to limit subscribers’ exposure to harmful online content.

The telecommunications group said the websites will be blocked at the network level, making them inaccessible to PLDT and Smart subscribers.

The measure particularly seeks to reduce children’s and young people’s exposure to online content that depicts or glorifies real-world violence.

“This is something we do not tolerate,” PLDT Chief Operating Officer Butch Jimenez said.

“We have decided to ban these kinds of sites preemptively, as soon as they are discovered. Our networks will not be used as a channel for content that glorifies violence and puts our communities, especially our children, at risk,” he added.

PLDT said the list is not limited to the more than 100 websites initially identified, as additional sites may be blocked once discovered.

The company said it will continue identifying such websites through its monitoring efforts and coordination with government agencies, child protection organizations, and parenting communities.

The move puts network-level blocking at the center of PLDT and Smart’s response to websites distributing footage of extreme violence. Instead of relying on individual users to avoid the material, access to identified sites will be restricted across the companies’ networks.

“There is no debate to be had here,” Jimenez said. “Content that turns real-world violence into entertainment has no place on our networks and in our society, and we will keep acting decisively every time we find it.”

The initiative expands the PLDT Group’s existing online safety and child protection efforts.

PLDT and Smart have also been blocking websites hosting child sexual abuse material as part of their efforts to prevent their networks from being used to access harmful and illegal online content.

The latest action comes amid heightened concerns over how footage of violent incidents can rapidly circulate online, potentially exposing users, including minors, to disturbing material.

PLDT said it will continue monitoring its networks and adding newly identified websites to its blocking list.

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