DICT’s weak digital safety posture is Putting Filipinos at risk

Editorial

The recent public attention surrounding the extremist online network known as 764 should not be treated as an isolated incident. It is another reminder that the Philippines continues to respond to digital threats only after they have already reached the public.

Today it is 764. Yesterday it was violent online communities. Before that, it was disinformation, online scams, harmful online content, and platforms that enabled abuse. Tomorrow it will be another emerging threat.

The problem is not that these threats exist. The problem is that government policy continues to chase them instead of anticipating them.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) was created to lead the country’s digital future, including cybersecurity and online safety. That leadership should mean identifying emerging risks, guiding national policy, helping Congress and the Senate craft forward-looking legislation, coordinating government agencies, supporting law enforcement with strategic direction, and building a national framework that protects Filipinos before threats become national issues.

Instead, the country’s response has too often been reactive.

When a harmful online community gains public attention, the conversation turns to banning a platform. When a violent game becomes controversial, calls are made to prohibit a specific title. When disinformation spreads, the focus shifts to one social media platform.

But banning one platform does not eliminate the problem.

There will always be another platform. Another game. Another online community. Another messaging app. Technology evolves far faster than government policies designed around individual apps or services.

What the Philippines needs is a comprehensive digital safety framework that is platform-neutral, intelligence-driven, and future-ready.

Such a strategy should continuously identify emerging online threats, strengthen child online protection, counter violent extremism, address disinformation, improve digital literacy, coordinate law enforcement, and provide policymakers with evidence-based recommendations before problems escalate.

DICT should be leading that effort.

As the government’s lead agency for information and communications technology, it should be setting the national agenda on digital safety, bringing together Congress, the Senate, executive agencies, regulators, law enforcement, educators, technology companies, and civil society to build a coordinated and sustainable national strategy rather than reacting to one issue after another.

Filipinos deserve more than piecemeal solutions driven by the latest headline. They deserve a government that sees the bigger picture and prepares for threats before they reach their children, their families, and their communities.

The greatest danger facing the Philippines is not one extremist network, one violent game, or one social media platform.

It is a digital safety posture that remains one step behind every new threat.