Converge has joined PLDT, Smart, and Globe in blocking violent and harmful content at the network level, turning what began as one company's move against school-shooting videos into a campaign openly coordinated by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Newsbytes.PH reports that the country's four biggest internet providers are now restricting access to sites that host gore, school-shooting footage, and other material the government classifies as "nihilistic violent extremism," or NVE.
How wide the blocking has become
The numbers involved are no longer small. PLDT and Smart started by blocking more than 100 websites carrying school-shooting footage and extreme violence, a list they say will keep growing. Globe, which blocked 438,446 domains and URLs carrying child sexual abuse material in 2025, is expanding its restrictions to gore and real-world violence sites. Converge disclosed that it denied nearly 12 billion access attempts to prohibited sites and blacklisted more than 72,000 domains in 2025.
PLDT chief operating officer Butch Jimenez has framed the move as a preemptive decision rather than a response to any order: "There is no debate to be had here. Content that turns real-world violence into entertainment has no place on our networks." Education Secretary Sonny Angara has also called for greater cooperation among platforms and providers.
DICT steps out in front
What changed this week is the government's posture. DICT Secretary Henry Aguda confirmed the department is coordinating the effort with the National Telecommunications Commission, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, the Philippine National Police, and the telcos themselves. "These efforts are part of our continuing work to protect Filipinos, especially children and young people, from harmful content and threats such as NVE," Aguda said, in remarks carried by The Manila Times. The department places the campaign under its Child Online Safeguarding Policies, alongside existing programs against child sexual abuse material and scams.
The campaign builds on the blocking drive we covered when PLDT, Smart, and Globe first blocked over 100 violent-content sites, and it sits next to a separate government review — the CICC is still studying a possible Facebook ban over Meta's slow takedowns.
Critics ask: who decides what gets blocked?
The expansion has sharpened a due-process debate. Former solicitor general Florin Hilbay questioned whether a telco's franchise gives it the authority to decide such questions at all, noting that "banning 'content that glorifies violence' isn't something even supreme courts have been confident enough to do." Digital rights advocate Tonyo Cruz warned that unilateral blocking "violates due process, which safeguards our rights against overreach and abuse."
The gap the critics point to is procedural: there is currently no published standard for what lands on a blocklist, no independent review of blocking decisions, and no appeal process for a subscriber — or a site owner — who believes a block is a mistake. The blocking is voluntary and happens at the network level, not by court order.
What it means for your connection
If you subscribe to PLDT, Smart, Globe, or Converge — which together serve the vast majority of Philippine internet users — some destinations now simply will not load, and the lists are maintained privately by each provider in coordination with DICT. Supporters see a faster way to shield minors from genuinely harmful material; critics see a precedent where access decisions for the whole country are made without judicial review. Both things can be true, which is why the campaign's next test is transparency: whether the government and the telcos publish standards for what gets blocked and give wrongly blocked sites a way to appeal.
