Philippines apologizes for Discord ban, faces backlash from VAs and gamers

The Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) apologized Thursday for the inconvenience caused by its order that temporarily banned the media-sharing and messaging platform Discord in the Philippines. During a press briefing, DICT Undersecretary Renato "Aboy" Paraiso, executive director of the CICC, issued an apology for the inconvenience caused by the hours-long inaccessibility of Discord. "Humingi ako ng pasensya sa lahat ng naapektuhan at mga naabala sa ilang oras na ban ng Discord sa bansa. Inaayos na namin ang lahat kaagapay ang Discord," the CICC chief said. Discord is popular among online gamers, especially with the rise of e-sports in the Philippines. Hence, the report of banning Discord led to a backlash from many users. However, former DICT Usec. Jeffrey Ian Dy said that Discord is also used by those in the virtual assistance industry. "Have you heard of Discord’s Barangay VA Helpdesk group? It has 12,000+ members. It is a group dedicated to Filipinos working as freelance online Virtual Assistants. How about the Nexus server? Same thing. Jobcord? Same," said Dy. "Congratulations, DICT, because of our failure to apprehend criminals online, we sacrificed some 15,000 legitimate Filipino workers on Discord," he added. The lifting of the ban came after the CICC and Discord management’s meeting earlier to discuss compliance matters. Paraiso said Discord has committed to give the agency a "green lane" to monitor and recognize threat actors in its platform. The platform was also given the choice to either establish a local satellite office or send representatives in the country for ease of communication and coordination. The CICC on Tuesday gave both Reddit and Discord 24 hours to establish a Philippine presence within 24 hours to enhance collaboration with the government following the shooting at the Banga National High School in South Cotabato. DICT Secretary Henry Aguda announced that Discord already committed to strengthen its child protection measures in the platform. "They also recognized and acknowledged na merong kailangan ayusin at paghigpitan sa kanilang mga polisiya (their policies need fixing and be stricter)," Aguda said. —RF, GMA News