The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) wants Philippine authorities to gain clearer jurisdiction over social media, messaging, and streaming platforms as anonymous online spaces increasingly complicate efforts to trace threats and protect children from violent content.
During a Senate hearing on Thursday, CICC Executive Director Undersecretary Renato “Aboy” Paraiso said law enforcers are faced by jurisdictional barriers when dealing with platforms operating outside the country, forcing authorities, in some cases, to rely on the companies’ own community standards.
“We don't have jurisdiction over these platforms, whether it's social media platforms, the gaming platforms, messaging platforms, and even streaming platforms,” Paraiso told Sen. Risa Hontiveros who heads the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality.
The issue surfaced as the committee examined the online dimension of recent school shooting incidents in Tacloban and Zamboanga City and the possible influence of nihilistic violent extremism (NVE), which authorities say can operate through loosely connected digital communities.
Paraiso said the problem becomes particularly difficult on messaging platforms where users can register without readily identifiable personal information and operate through anonymous accounts.
“Most of these messaging platforms do not have what some other messaging platforms have, where we can relate an account to a particular number through SIM card registration. But on these online messaging platforms, you just register. The names then become anonymous and the users do not even use their real names,” he said.
Paraiso said giving Philippine authorities jurisdiction over such platforms could help investigators establish who is behind suspicious accounts and determine whether they are operating locally or overseas.
“If we have jurisdiction over these platforms, we can probably get some attribution to whatever ends, whether if it's a citizen here in the Philippines, we can prosecute,” he said.
He added that cases involving persons abroad could be pursued through stronger cooperation and mutual legal assistance arrangements with other countries.
The CICC also sees a need to update the country's cybercrime framework to address digital threats that have evolved considerably since the existing law was enacted in 2012.
Paraiso said amendments could expand the mandates of agencies involved in cybercrime investigations, while new legislation could establish which government body should exercise authority over various types of online platforms.
He said streaming services also illustrate the regulatory gap, noting that traditional cinema content undergoes stricter scrutiny while children can access a much wider range of material through online streaming platforms.
Hontiveros said the proposed expansion of the country's anti-online sexual abuse and exploitation of children framework could provide an opportunity to strengthen investigators' tools against NVE and other emerging online threats.
She said the committee is looking at provisions that would bridge existing anti-online child exploitation mechanisms with a separate and distinct framework against NVE, while also considering whether the broader cybercrime law would eventually require updating.
Sen. Imee Marcos has called on government regulators to step up efforts to prevent young people from accessing online platforms and dark web communities that promote violence.
In a privilege speech during the Senate plenary session on Aug. 19, Marcos urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), CICC and National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to strictly enforce their mandates and strengthen monitoring of digital platforms where violent content and communities may be accessible to minors.
She also called on the Department of Trade and Industry to intensify monitoring of online marketplaces and take stronger action against the sale and distribution of violent materials over the internet.
