The Philippine government and Meta have agreed to establish a technical working group to improve coordination and response times in addressing harmful content, online threats of violence, and child sexual abuse and exploitation material on the company’s platforms.
The commitments emerged from a meeting in Singapore between Philippine officials and executives of Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.
The talks followed repeated complaints from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) that the technology company had been difficult to reach because it did not maintain a full-fledged office in the Philippines.
Meta was represented by Sarim Aziz, director for public policy in Southeast Asia, and Gio Tiongson, head of public policy in the Philippines.
Philippine officials who attended included National Bureau of Investigation director Melvin Matibag, National Telecommunications Commission chairperson Ella Blanca Lopez, CICC executive director Renato “Aboy” Paraiso, and House Committee on Women chairperson Ann Matibag. Representatives of the Senate and the Office of the Executive Secretary were also present.
Under the agreement, Meta will designate a point of contact to maintain an open communication channel with Philippine authorities. The planned technical working group will focus on improving coordination, response times, and service-level action involving harmful content.
Meta also reaffirmed what it described as a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse and exploitation material, or CSAEM.
The company said it would continue assisting law enforcement investigations, particularly cases involving imminent harm to a child or a risk of death or serious physical injury.
Meta also committed to cooperating with lawful requests for account records, subject to its terms of service, applicable laws, mutual legal assistance procedures, and other legal safeguards.
The company expressed willingness to provide technical assistance in combating CSAEM, while both sides agreed to pursue digital literacy programs aimed at strengthening public resilience against disinformation and other harmful content.
Meta representatives are expected to visit Manila to formalize the cooperation framework and the commitments reached during the Singapore meeting. The DICT did not specify when the visit would take place.
“These are serious issues, and there is no reason to celebrate. What matters is that we now have concrete commitments and a framework for action,” Aguda said.
The DICT chief said platform safeguards could not replace parental vigilance. He cited Meta’s Teen Accounts, which apply private-account settings, messaging restrictions, and time reminders for younger users, as well as its Family Center supervision tools.
The agency urged parents to review their children’s online accounts and contacts, activate privacy settings and parental controls, discuss online threats with them, and monitor significant changes in behavior. Credible threats of violence or exploitation should immediately be reported to authorities, it added.
“The commitments made today are a starting point. The responsibility now is to turn them into action and to ensure that online threats are addressed before they become real-world harm,” Aguda said.
The agreement follows government criticism of Meta’s response to violent content shared on Facebook in connection with the school shooting in Zamboanga. Philippine authorities had also complained that the absence of a full corporate office in the country complicated coordination, law enforcement requests, and questions of jurisdiction.
Photos released by the DICT showed government officials meeting with Meta executives and posing after the talks. The agency initially disclosed few details, saying only that it had held another discussion with Meta on child online safety.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with information provided by DICT
