PH telcos to block websites that stream school shootings and other violent content

Major telecommunications companies are blocking websites that stream videos of school shootings and other violent content.

PLDT Inc. and Smart Communications, Inc. announced that they will block more than 100 websites streaming or hosting footage of school shootings and other extreme violence, as part of their effort to protect users, especially children and young people, from harmful online content.

"This is something we do not tolerate," PLDT Chief Operating Officer Butch Jimenez said in the Aug. 21 statement.

"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 said.

The company said the list will be updated as more sites are identified through its monitoring and coordination with government agencies, child protection groups, and parenting communities. Network-level blocking makes these sites inaccessible to all PLDT and Smart subscribers.

"There is no debate to be had here. 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," Jimenez added.

Likewise, Globe General Counsel Froilan Castelo said the company is committed to making the online environment safer, especially for children and young people.

“We have a responsibility to help make the online environment safer, especially for children and young people. As new risks emerge, we need to keep looking at what more we can do,” Castelo said Friday.

“The recent school shooting incident is one opportunity where the industry can work together by removing sites that induce violence in our networks. At Globe, we are ready to do our part and protect children online,” he added.

Meanwhile, psychologist and traumatologist Faith Frances B. Miranda emphasized the crucial role parents play in helping children process disturbing content online and prevent future shooting incidents.

"They need to guide their children in navigating social media, talk to them about disturbing content, and help them process what they see instead of leaving them to make sense of it on their own," she told PhilSTAR L!fe in an interview.

She also suggested, "Before watching or reposting, we should ask ourselves, 'Would I want millions of people circulating this if this were my family?'"

"Accuracy and public awareness should not come at the expense of the dignity of the people directly affected," Miranda said. 

This development comes in the wake of a wave of fatal school shootings across the country. Recent incidents include an August 18 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, as well as a June attack in Tacloban in which two minors killed three teenagers and wounded 20 others.