PLDT blocks 88,000 child abuse sites and links

MANILA, Philippines—PLDT Inc. said on Thursday it “fast-tracked” efforts to combat online child abuse, blocking a record 88,000 sites and links showing illicit content featuring minors.

The efforts underscored the telco giant’s commitment to fighting cases of online sexual abuse and exploitation of children, or OSAEC, which were increasing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We remain committed to strengthening our end to end cyber defenses and building our inherent capacity to fight online threats and make the digital environment safer for our millions of customers, particularly children who happen to be the most vulnerable,” PLDT first vice president and chief information security officer Angel T. Redoble said in a statement.

PLDT earlier announced a P2 billion program to boost its cyber security operations center, which also implements its child protection platform.

The company said this solution enables them to continuously detect, respond, and prevent access to URLs, domains, and content with OSAEC within their network.

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart also became the first Philippine digital service providers to secure membership to the UK-based Internet Watch Foundation.

“This membership boosted the two telcos’ intelligence database and blocking of online child sexual abuse materials, as well as concretized their participation in global efforts to making the Internet safer for young people,” PLDT said in its statement.