CICC gives Discord, Reddit 24-hour ultimatum to establish PH presence

The CICC demands Discord and Reddit 'immediately designate, from receipt of the letters, a resident agent or local representative who can facilitate Philippine jurisdiction and enhance coordination and cooperation with Philippine authorities' The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) has given Discord and Reddit a 24-hour ultimatum to establish a local presence in the Philippines following a school shooting incident. CICC demands that these platforms designate local representatives to enhance coordination with Philippine authorities and submit plans for improving safety standards and addressing digital exploitation of minors. Failure to comply may result in restrictions or prohibition of access to these platforms in the Philippines, with potential legal actions to enforce such measures. This is AI-generated. Read the article for full context. Report any errors. MANILA, Philippines – The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) gave messaging and communications platform Discord and social discussion platform Reddit a 24-hour ultimatum to set up their respective offices or a presence in the Philippines in response to a third school shooting — in South Cotabato — in the country this year. The CICC said on its website on Monday, September 21, it sent separate letters to Discord and Reddit demanding they “immediately designate, from receipt of the letters, a resident agent or local representative who can facilitate Philippine jurisdiction and enhance coordination and cooperation with Philippine authorities.” CICC Executive Director Renato Paraiso said the organization is “not asking platforms to police the internet for the government but to be reachable, accountable, and responsive when activities on their platforms put Filipino children and communities at risk.” Paraiso added, “When an online threat spills over into the real world, there has to be clear channel for authorities to act.” The move follows actions by the Department of Information and Communications Technology in August seeking to get Roblox and Meta to agree to further child-safety measures. Cooperative framework to fight digital exploitation In addition to seeking local representatives, the CICC tasked the two companeis with submitting written explanations of existing arrangements and concrete implementation plans for enhancing safety standards, their respective rapid response mechanisms, as well as their age-verification or age-assurance measures. The CICC is also seeking to get DIscord and Reddit to participate in “a cooperative framework” to address the digital exploitation of minors — online actions which come with real-world harms. The CICC added, “The proposed framework would particularly cover networks involved in the creation, solicitation, possession, distribution, exchange, promotion or monetization of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children and child sexual abuse or exploitation of materials, and nihilistic violence extremism that occur in these platforms.” The CICC has also asked the Department of Foreign Affairs to aid in facilitating participation and coordination among social media companies, including Meta Platforms, Discord, and Reddit, as they try to stamp out online threats that have links to the exploitation of minors and to real-world violence. Failure to comply merits restrictions, prohibition The CICC added that if social media companies failed or refused to comply within the prescribed timeframe for action, the agency — in coordination with appropriate Philippine authorities — may restrict the operations of or prohibit access to these platforms in the Philippines. It is unclear if they plan to do this unilaterally or to institute such a measure through a court-mandated order. ~ Rappelr.com How does this make you feel? Loading