Philippines eyes privacy-preserving age checks for social media

The Philippines seems like it’s following through on its stronger rhetoric on social media platforms as it now focuses on privacy safeguards for a proposed online age verification implementation.

In preparation for a technical working group (TWG) with Meta and Roblox this month, the country’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) listened to feedback from government agencies and digital safety advocates at a town hall meeting.

The consensus appeared to settle on age assurance that can sort users to certain age groups while protecting personal information disclosure. The CICC will now examine privacy safeguards for an online age verification system for social media and gaming platforms, and the TWG will look to create directives against online child grooming and fraud.

“Privacy does not equate to identifiability,” said CICC undersecretary and executive director Renato “Aboy” Paraiso. “In the discussion of child safety, we also have to acknowledge the fact that we must also go after the predators, we must also go after the groomers, and for that to happen, we need to identify them.”

Paraiso said online pseudonyms need not be abolished, but authorities must still be able to identify people responsible for threats and abuse. Data minimization, collecting only what is deemed necessary, was a theme of the town hall, with the distinction between age verification and identity verification made by attendees.

“If the objective is simply to establish that a person is above a certain age, then the system should answer only that question,” said Gail Cruz Macapagal of Women of Blockchain Philippines.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) suggested that the national ID system could be used for age verification, but emphasized that it must not lead to unnecessary disclosure of personal data. Assistant National Statistician Henedine Palabras said the ID could confirm whether someone meets an age threshold without exposing their full identity.

The National Privacy Commission similarly backed a “yes‑no” model that verifies only the age attribute, while calling for further work on the technical framework including data processing, retention, third‑party involvement and safeguards.

The TWG will now analyze legal, due process, data minimization and architectural issues raised during consultations.

Philippines pushes ASEAN cooperation on online child safety

As government officials from Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines have repeatedly called on social media platforms to take a more proactive stance towards protecting citizens, the exhortation has now reached greater regional coordination.

The CICC and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) have pledged to lead a regional drive within ASEAN to strengthen cooperation on online child safety and cybercrime.

The CICC’s Aboy Paraiso said the borderless nature of cybercrime makes inter‑country collaboration essential, particularly in tackling child exploitation networks that operate outside the Philippines. DICT secretary Henry Aguda has also said Big Tech accountability will be raised at upcoming ASEAN meetings in October.

Fraud, cybercrime and identity crimes have surged across the region and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the intergovernmental organization that comprises 11 countries, have sought to increase cooperation as they advance a digital economy framework.

Scam Watch Pilipinas urged the government to use its ASEAN leadership to push for a regional framework similar to the European Union’s approach, arguing that ASEAN’s 700 million citizens give the bloc leverage in holding large tech companies accountable.

Paraiso stressed that platforms benefiting from the Philippine market must respect local laws and face accountability. He also called for tech firms to establish a physical presence in the country to improve jurisdictional oversight.

The initiative will be advanced through a TWG, which will meet with Meta and Roblox this month to discuss measures on child safety, digital literacy and platform responsibility. Stakeholders agreed to translate recommendations from recent consultations into concrete policy and regional cooperation. DICT also plans to tighten oversight of Discord, which it claims is an unmonitored space exploited by predators and used for radicalization.

Article Topics

age verification  |  ASEAN  |  data privacy  |  gaming  |  national ID  |  Philippines  |  social media