CICC grants Reddit, Discord extensions after platforms commit to PH presence

• Courtesy of CICC

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) has granted Reddit and Discord more time to comply with its directive to establish a local presence in the Philippines after both platforms reached out and expressed willingness to strengthen cooperation with the government on online child safety.

CICC Executive Director Undersecretary Renato “Aboy” Paraiso said the agency extended the deadline after Reddit responded within the original 24-hour period and met virtually with CICC officials on Wednesday to discuss mechanisms for closer coordination.

Discord also contacted the agency through a letter and expressed its willingness to discuss its existing safety measures for teenage users.

“We decided to grant them an extension since they responded within the 24 hours and we want to give them the opportunity to work with us because what we want is accountability and a clear mechanism for government to coordinate with the platforms,” Paraiso said following the meeting.

“While we welcome their commitment to work with us, we will not settle for anything less. This commitment must translate into concrete action, genuine accountability, faster response mechanisms and stronger protections for our Filipino children online,” he added.

During the meeting, Reddit Vice President of Policy Jessica Ashooh, Deputy General Counsel Leslie Liu, and Policy and Regulatory Affairs Manager Vijay Pamarathi discussed establishing “green lanes,” or direct channels that would allow Philippine authorities to flag potentially harmful content for expedited review and possible takedown.

The mechanism would cover content involving online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC), child sexual abuse and exploitation materials (CSAEM), scams, misinformation, harmful content, and materials associated with Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE).

Reddit also committed to establishing an office in the Philippines and creating a team that would coordinate with the CICC, although no specific timeline was provided for putting these mechanisms in place.

For its part, the CICC will provide Reddit with relevant information and materials, including Philippine laws and regulations, to help the platform understand the country’s legal framework governing online safety and cybercrime.

Meanwhile, Discord separately reached out to Paraiso through a letter, expressing concern over recent incidents in the Philippines and its willingness to work directly with the CICC to protect minors from exploitation, grooming, and exposure to violent content.

Amid scrutiny over the use of Discord in communities associated with NVE, the platform offered to brief the CICC on its newly rolled out Global Teen Experience, which includes age-assurance measures intended to place teenage users in an age-appropriate experience by default.

Discord Senior Public Policy Advisor Vasundhara Singh said users who cannot be confidently placed into an age group through account-level signals may confirm their age through privacy-preserving methods, including on-device facial age estimation, with biometric data not shared with or stored by Discord.

Discord also offered to brief the CICC on its Family Center tools and Kodex system, which allows law enforcement agencies to submit lawful takedown and data requests and receive expedited responses.

The development marks a shift from the situation a day earlier, when an internal source told TechWatchPH that the CICC was preparing to send a recommendation to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to block Discord in the Philippines over its lack of cooperation.

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BREAKING FIRST IN TECHWATCHPH: CICC to request NTC to block Discord in PH, grants Reddit 48 hours

The same source told TechWatchPH that Reddit had been given another 48 hours after it sought additional time to comply with the government’s requirements.

The CICC earlier gave Reddit and Discord 24 hours to designate a resident agent or local representative who could facilitate Philippine jurisdiction and improve coordination with authorities.

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CICC gives Reddit, Discord 24 hours to establish PH presence

The directive came amid concerns from law enforcement and cybersecurity agencies over the use of private and invitation-only online communities to groom, radicalize, and recruit minors into real-world violence.