Tech CEO raises concerns over proposed DICT-Meta National ID age verification

• IN PHOTO: TraXion Tech founder and CEO Ann Cuisia (FB)

A tech executive has raised concerns over the proposed use of the Philippine National ID for age verification on social media platforms, saying efforts to protect children online should not come at the expense of users’ privacy.

TraXion Tech founder and CEO Ann Cuisia said she supports the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) collaboration with Meta on stronger child-safety measures, including age verification, parental controls and measures against online predators and harmful content.

However, Cuisia questioned whether Filipinos should be required to authenticate themselves through government infrastructure simply to access a private social media platform.

“Why should every Filipino have to establish their real identity through government infrastructure simply to participate on a private social-media platform?” Cuisia said in a social media post.

Her remarks came after the DICT said it would ask Meta to integrate the Philippine National ID into account verification for its social media platforms.

Cuisia, however, stressed that age verification should be distinguished from identity verification.

She noted that the DICT has clarified that the proposed system would not necessarily provide Meta with users’ National ID information.

Under the reported matching protocol, Cuisia said Meta would receive only a “yes” or “no” response confirming whether a user meets an age requirement instead of storing the person’s underlying identity.

She said such an architecture is preferable to directly sharing National ID information with Meta but argued that it does not address the broader issue of requiring government-backed identity authentication to participate in digital services.

Cuisia pointed out that there are legitimate reasons for people to remain anonymous or use pseudonyms online, citing whistleblowers, victims, government critics, journalists’ sources and ordinary citizens who may want to keep their digital identities separate from their legal identities.

“If the objective is protecting children, Meta does not need to know who I am. It needs to know whether I meet an age requirement,” Cuisia said.

She said modern privacy-preserving technology could verify whether someone meets an age threshold without unnecessarily linking that person’s government identity to a social media account.

Cuisia warned that normalizing government identity as a requirement for accessing digital services could have implications beyond Meta and social media.

She acknowledged the government’s responsibility to protect children and pursue criminals but said measures should be targeted, proportionate and technologically sound.

“There are ways to fight cybercrime without making privacy the price of being online. Freedom may require more work than a convenient technological shortcut. That is precisely the cost of protecting basic human rights,” Cuisia said.