Philippine authorities lifted the brief ban on Discord Thursday after the online messaging platform committed to cooperate with the government to implement stricter online child safety measures.
The lifting of the ban, implemented on Wednesday evening, came after talks between Discord representatives and officials of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.
CICC Executive Director Undersecretary Renato “Aboy” Paraiso said Discord, like Reddit, vowed to provide a “green lane” to monitor and recognize threat actors.
“Isa lang ho ang ibig saihin niyan. Sa mga platform na ito, wala na hong makakapagtago na nananamantala at nananakit sa ating mga kabataan,” Paraiso said in a press conference.
Paraiso also apologized to those inconvenienced and affected when Discord became inaccessible for a few hours.
“Huwag po kayong mag-alala dahil inaayos na po namin ang lahat kaagapay ang Discord,” he said.
The Philippines restricted access to Discord due to concerns that it was being used to recruit Filipino youth to join extremist communities and to radicalize them into committing violence. This came amid school shootings in the country.
The CICC directed Discord and Reddit to establish a local presence in the Philippines in 24 hours and said failure to comply would lead to the restriction of their platforms.
Paraiso said that if Reddit and Discord put up local satellite offices or designate Philippine representatives, it would be easier for Philippine authorities to communicate and coordinate with them to relay urgent concerns.
He also said Philippine authorities would make sure the platforms comply with commitments to implement safety measures.