The Philippine government and U.S.-based Meta Platforms, known for its social media platform Facebook, agreed to deepen cooperation on protecting children online and countering disinformation, harmful content, and threats of violence.
The Philippines’ Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) made the announcement on Thursday, over a week after a fatal shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University, the Philippines.
The two sides agreed to form a technical working group to improve coordination and response times on harmful content. Meta agreed to designate a point of contact for Philippine authorities and reaffirmed a zero-tolerance stance on child sexual abuse and exploitation material.
Meta would continue cooperating with lawful requests for account records under its terms of service and applicable law, including mutual legal-assistance procedures. Meta will also support investigations involving imminent harm to a child or a risk of death or serious injury, and provide technical assistance as appropriate.
The two sides said they would work together on digital-literacy efforts to build resilience against disinformation and harmful content. Meta representatives are due to visit Manila to formalize the cooperation framework.
DICT Secretary Henry Aguda said the issues were serious and that there was “no reason to celebrate,” calling the commitments a starting point that must be turned into action before online threats become real-world harm.
Aguda said platform and government mechanisms could not replace parental vigilance, citing Meta’s Teen Accounts, with default private settings and messaging limits for younger users, and its Family Center supervision tools. He urged parents to review children’s accounts and contacts, enable parental controls, discuss online threats openly, and report credible threats to authorities.
The talks came a day after Meta agreed to a U.S. settlement of up to $18 billion to resolve claims by U.S. states that its platforms harmed children, and included parallel discussions with gaming platform Roblox.
Meta Platforms, based in the United States, owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
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