MANILA, Philippines — With over 280 lawmakers voting in the affirmative, the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening approved House Bill 9461 or the proposed Child Online Safety and Protection Act of 2026, a priority measure.
"A child's right to safety does not end when they go online. As more aspects of daily life move into digital spaces, our responsibility to protect children must extend there as well," Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III said in a statement. "Every child deserves to grow up free from exploitation, coercion and abuse. This measure strengthens our ability to protect the most vulnerable members of our society and ensures that predators have fewer places to hide", Dy said.
Based on the statement, the bill aimed to include child sexual abuse committed with the use of artificial intelligence-generated and digitally manipulated content in the definition under the law.
The bill, it said, "criminalizes online grooming, sexual extortion, luring, image-based sexual abuse, and livestreamed exploitation."
