Globe cranks up fight vs illegal gambling sites

MANILA, Philippines — Mobile giant Globe Telecom Inc. has blocked access to more than 1,000 illegal gambling sites in the first quarter of the year in an effort to push its subscribers away from financial and social troubles.

Globe yesterday said it barred access to 1,345 sites that promote illegal gambling, as the telco intensified its campaign to make the internet safe.

By month, Globe prevented access to 260 domains in January, 855 in February and 230 in March through its content filtering system and network-level blocking measures.

In contrast, Globe prohibited access to just 126 illegal gambling sites in the first quarter of 2023. Recently, the company has observed that illegal gambling activities are ballooning within the network, blocking just 52 domains in 2021, to 396 in 2022, to 4,237 in 2023.

Globe chief information security officer Anton Bonifacio said the telco has a social obligation to save its subscribers from falling into gambling addiction. Further, he noted that illegal gambling sites serve as hotbeds of fraudulent activities, particularly identity theft.

“Illegal online gambling [has] devastating financial and social consequences, fueling problematic gambling behaviors and exposing users to potential fraud, malware and cybercrimes,” Bonifacio said.

“We have an ethical obligation to make the internet safer and are continuing our relentless push to identify and prevent access to these unlawful sites on our network,” he added.

Echoing the advice of the government, Globe asked its subscribers to transact only with licensed gambling sites.

Globe has invested $2.7 million to build up its content filtering infrastructure. The company has leaned on this system to detect and block harmful sites on the web.

On top of illegal gambling, Globe is on the lookout for domains that promote child pornography and online piracy. These initiatives form part of a campaign called #MakeITSafePh that seeks to raise the digital security within the network.

However, Globe acknowledged that even though it deploys a content filtering system, criminals may still find ways to circumvent the restrictions and reach its customers.

With this, the telco committed to sustain its literacy projects informing subscribers of the dangers of illegal activities and to work with law enforcement and other stakeholders in hunting down the criminals behind them.