By Brian Campued
Popular gaming platform Roblox will not be banned in the Philippines “this week,” according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The DICT announced on Tuesday following a meeting with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), the Philippine National Police – Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), the Department of Education (DepEd), advocacy network Digital Pinoys, and the Roblox management.
During the meeting, which came days before the April 10 deadline set by the agency to address child safety concerns, representatives from Roblox presented enhanced safeguards on its platform, including stricter monitoring, improved reporting mechanisms, and age-appropriate content controls.
DICT said Roblox agreed to implement “safety-by-design measures” on its platform, along with turning off chat and payments by default. Chat access for users below 9 years old was also removed.
“Bukod dito, sa susunod na linggo, ila-launch nila ang age-based content at age-based parental controls, kasabay ng information campaign para gabayan ang mga magulang sa paggamit ng mga bagong features,” the DICT said in a news release.
The department also urged the use of parental controls, such as tracking screen time, setting spending limits, blocking inappropriate experiences, and choosing age-appropriate content.
These settings will help parents and guardians to monitor and protect their children’s digital experience, in line with the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to strengthen security of such digital platforms and protect children from exposure to online sexual abuse and other digital threats.
“Nauunawaan natin ang pangamba ng mga magulang at ng publiko sa mga isyu ng online abuse, lalo na sa mga platform na ginagamit ng ating kabataan. Kaya malinaw ang ating nais: gawing ligtas, responsable, at mapagkakatiwalaan ang digital space para sa bawat batang Pilipino,” DICT Sec. Henry Aguda said in a Facebook post.
“Nagpapasalamat tayo sa Roblox sa pakikipagpulong at sa kanilang commitment na paigtingin ang kanilang safety measures at makipagtulungan sa pamahalaan. Kaakibat ng ating layunin sa ilalim ng pamumuno ni Pangulong Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., patuloy nating pagtutulungan upang masigurong protektado ang bawat isa sa digital space,” Aguda added.
According to a separate news release by CICC, part of the safety measures already rolled out by Roblox since January on their platform include giving parents access to their children’s online activities by allowing them to assist in customizing the game’s settings.
“We recognize Roblox’s child safety features and instructed them to have a representative office here in the Philippines. Both parties have agreed on implementing ‘parental control’ that are now in place,” CICC Executive Director Usec. Aboy Paraiso said.
Roblox likewise agreed to integrate the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) to strengthen the age verification process within the platform.
Philippine authorities were also given a streamlined process for the takedown of “red flag” contents on the gaming platform.
-jpv
