PLDT Blocked over 1 Billion Access to to Online Child Abuse

Since November 2021, PLDT and Smart have blocked over 1 billion user attempts to access online child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) using the enhanced capabilities of their premier cybersecurity solutions and Child Protection Platform.

The group has also blocked more than 224,000 CSAM URLs or web addresses, as of end March 2022. In response to the global increase in cybercrime and OSAEC cases, PLDT and Smart earlier invested approximately P2 billion in a strengthened cybersecurity operations center and a dedicated Child Protection Platform that enables the group to continuously detect, predict, respond to, and prevent access to CSAM while adhering to all applicable data protection and privacy laws.

“In support of our continuing commitment to child protection and to the global fight against online sexual abuse and exploitation of children (OSAEC), these milestone figures manifest our expanded capacity to both block illicit URLs and prevent end-user attempts to access CSAM,” said PLDT Chief Information Security Advisor Angel T. Redoble.

According to Redoble, these in-house solutions optimize top-notch cybersecurity technologies and utilize dynamic intelligence data gathered from PLDT and Smart’s alliances with entities like the Internet Watch Foundation and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

“Seeing such significant results, we are all the more encouraged to constantly keep abreast with global best practices and forge more alliances to further enhance our infrastructure for customer safety and solutions for child protection,” shared Redoble.

As part of the group's environmental, social, and governance commitments, PLDT and Smart implement a pioneering Child Safeguarding Policy that embeds child rights and safety considerations into group-wide programs, practices, and technology solutions.

These initiatives concretize the group's active pledge to help the Philippines attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG), particularly UNSDG #16 which stands against abuses, exploitation, trafficking, and violence against children. 

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