PLDT ready to block Roblox if ordered

MANILA, Philippines — Telco giant PLDT Inc. is ready to block online game Roblox if the government decides to ban it in the Philippines due to its potential risks to children, including exposure to violent extremism.

In a statement, PLDT chief legal counsel Joan de Venecia-Fabul said the telco, together with its wireless unit Smart Communications Inc., are prepared to limit access to Roblox if instructed.

De Venecia-Fabul said PLDT would comply with whatever decision its regulators come up with on the fate of Roblox, as it faces a possible ban in the country to keep children safe online.

Roblox was asked by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) to respond to concerns that the game is being used to promote extremist views on children. Roblox was also flagged for allegedly harboring bad actors like pedophiles and traffickers.

The CICC, headed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology, decided to place Roblox under close monitoring for showing no signs of coordinating with authorities. It was given an extension to respond, with the deadline now set on April 10.

Roblox is a kind of open world game where players can interact with one another, exposing it to bad actors who want to exploit children.

Based on preliminary investigation, Roblox is filled with child predators who initiate chats with minors using built-in tools, and they tend to invite their targets to migrate to other channels.

These predators put in effort to gain the trust of their victims by offering incentives like in-game currency or rare items.

In March, police thwarted a planned mass shooting in Laguna involving seven children, all aged 15, who were influenced by an individual they talked to on Roblox. Some of the items found in the possession of the children were pins bearing the logo of Schutzstaffel, a Nazi affiliate group.

Given this, De Venecia-Fabul said it is crucial that telcos like PLDT contribute to measures that would scale up the safety features of the digital world. The country’s largest telco is responsible for blocking hundreds of thousands of attempts to lure children into illegal activities.

“We recognize children as among our most important stakeholders, and we fully support efforts to create a safer digital environment for them,” De Venecia-Fabul said.

Between January and February, PLDT blocked about 176,000 attempts to access websites linked to online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.