DAVAO CITY, Philippines – In a bid to combat child pornography in the country, Globe Telecom blocked 2,471 domains or sites found to have lewd and child pornography-related content.
“As a purpose-led organization, we have a responsibility to ensure that our products and services will not be used for illegal activities. Globe Telecom is strongly committed to help address child pornography in the country,” Yoly Crisanto,senior vice president for corporate communications said.
The country has its Republic Act 9775 or the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 to protect every child from all forms of exploitation and abuse.
Under the law, “child pornography” refers to ”any representation, whether visual, audio, or written combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or any other means, of child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual activities”.
Crisanto said the company will “actively look out” for illegal sites containing vulgar content involving children.
According to United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) The State of The World’s Children 2017 report entitled “Children in a Digital World,” the online world paves greater opportunity for such ‘common’ forms of crime against children and greater potential for harm that includes ‘made-to order’ child sexual abuse material, self-generated content and the broadcasting of live sex abuse.
The report took note of a 12-year-old girl in the Philippines who was forced to live stream sexual acts from her neighbor’s house for money.
In Davao City, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) led Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking reported in 2017 that sexual exploitation among children has raised a concern to the department, pointing that sexual abuse and exploitation among children has become the “new trend” in this digital age.
“The two-year old child was used by the mother in her show in front of the computer,” Alma D. Acera, head of the regional secretariat of the council.
Responsible internet users Globe Telecom said its move was part of its #PlayItRight advocacy to help the entertainment industry curb piracy and protect intellectual property rights. The #PlayItRight advocacy was launched in 2017.
“Our advocacy #PlayItRight goes beyond anti-piracy, it also aims to protect customers against malware and other cyber security threats that normally accompany illegal content or torrenting sites,” Crisanto said.
The #PlayItRight campaign urged the public to consume digital content in a right way.
“Let’s create new habits that would encourage people to create original content more and give them what’s rightfully due them,” Crisanto added.