The Philippines’ major telecommunications providers are expanding network-level blockades to restrict access to websites hosting graphic violence, school shootings, and illegal gore.

The coordinated crackdown by PLDT Inc., Smart Communications Inc., Globe Telecom Inc., and Converge ICT Solutions Inc. follows mounting public concern over children’s exposure to extreme online violence. The move was catalyzed by an Aug. 18 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University that left two students dead and nine others wounded.

Following the tragedy, the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group moved to coordinate with digital platforms to scrub clips and screenshots of the incident. Law enforcement officials also noted potential links between recent youth violence and online platforms, including the gaming site Roblox.

PLDT and its wireless unit Smart began preemptively blocking access to more than 100 domain names identified as hosting or streaming footage of acts of extreme violence. PLDT Chief Operating Officer Menardo Jimenez said that the carrier will not allow its infrastructure to distribute graphic material.

“This is something we do not tolerate,” Jimenez said. “We have decided to ban these kinds of sites preemptively, as soon as they are discovered.”

Jimenez added that “there is no debate to be had” regarding the restriction of such domains.

“Content that turns real-world violence into entertainment has no place on our networks and in our society, and we will keep acting decisively every time we find it,” he said.

PLDT noted that it blocked 176,000 access attempts to child sexual abuse material in the first two months of the year and remains open to blocking Roblox if instructed by government regulators.

Globe Telecom, meanwhile, confirmed it is taking down hundreds of additional websites streaming gore and real-world violence, supplementing its ongoing filtering programs.

Globe blocked 438,446 domains related to child sexual abuse and exploitation materials in 2025, supported by investments exceeding ₱166.4 million in filtering technologies. The company expanded its blocklists in August 2024 to include AI-generated abuse imagery.

“We have a responsibility to help make the online environment safer, especially for children and young people,” said Froilan Castelo, Globe general counsel.

“As new risks emerge, we need to keep looking at what more we can do. The recent school shooting incident is one opportunity where the industry can work together by removing sites that induce violence in our networks. At Globe, we are ready to do our part and protect children online,” he added.

Fiber provider Converge ICT Solutions also reported that it denied nearly 12 billion entry requests to harmful websites in 2025 while blacklisting over 72,000 domains under its Child Online Safeguarding Policy.

“We have always taken a hard line position against dangerous and illicit content that harms the most vulnerable in our society, especially our children,” said Converge Chief Executive Officer Dennis Anthony Uy.

All three operators confirmed that blocklists will continue to expand in coordination with government bodies, including the Department of Information and Communications Technology, National Telecommunications Commission, and international child safety organizations.