BLOCKING DISCORD IS A FUCKING IDIOTIC WAY TO PROTECT CHILDREN

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026: Shortly after I published this commentary, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center announced during a live press conference that the Discord ban had been lifted.

Discord became inaccessible on several Philippine networks after the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center gave the platform 24 hours to establish a local presence and make commitments on child safety.

CICC Executive Director Renato “Aboy” Paraiso told TechWatchPH that his agency asked the National Telecommunications Commission to issue a blocking order and that Globe had begun implementing it. No public copy of that order had surfaced when this article was written. Neither the NTC nor the telecommunications companies publicly released a matching directive.

Several news outlets independently confirmed that Discord had become inaccessible through some providers. Access continued through others, making the restriction uneven from the beginning.

Users were already discussing virtual private networks and alternative Domain Name System settings. People familiar with the internet could walk around the government’s wall, while workers, students and less technical users were more likely to remain locked out.

May masabi lang na may ginagawa.

I USE DISCORD TO LEARN

I use Discord because I have been teaching myself coding, app development and website development. I do not spend my time in gaming discussions.

Discord calls its online communities servers. Inside those servers are channels where developers, students and other learners answer questions, troubleshoot code and share resources.

These groups are useful when you study on your own. I can read discussions among experienced developers, see how other people solve technical problems and ask for help when my code refuses to work.

Discord maintains an official community for developers. Research has also documented its use in software-engineering courses, computer-science education and collaboration among developers.

One University of Edinburgh study described software developers connecting GitHub activity to Discord and using Discord to communicate and work together. Research involving a remote software-engineering course also found that Discord increased interaction between students and teachers.

Losing access can mean missing a lesson, project discussion, client instruction or employment lead. People using the platform for lawful work and education should not be treated as acceptable collateral damage.

CICC Director Wayawaya “Aya” Macalma later discussed those uses during the agency’s Hotline 1326 radio program. Unbox PH and WalasTech reported that she apologized to affected users and said Discord had not made its business and educational uses clear to the agency.

That wording is important. Macalma did not categorically say the CICC had never heard of these uses. She placed the failure on Discord for not explaining them to the agency.

Her statement still exposes a basic failure of preparation. The government did not need Discord to explain that a major communications service was being used for business and education before seeking a restriction affecting its users.

Blocking first and learning about the platform afterward is brainless and fucking idiotic.

REDDIT IS ALSO PART OF MY WORK

Reddit is a source of information for me as a political writer. I never treat an anonymous post as established fact, but it can lead me to public documents, official statements, local developments and allegations that deserve independent checking.

It also shows what people are discussing outside statements released by politicians and government agencies. False and misleading posts are common, but Reddit also contains links, documents and details that can lead to legitimate reporting.

The CICC granted Reddit additional time after company representatives met with the agency and discussed commitments. Discord had sent a written response, but the CICC said the company had not offered the commitments it wanted.

Government has a valid reason to demand cooperation from foreign platforms. Philippine investigators need reachable contacts when a child is being threatened, abused or blackmailed, especially when account evidence may disappear.

A valid objective does not excuse a careless method.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT ACTUALLY DID

The CICC asked Discord and Reddit to appoint resident agents or local representatives and establish a Philippine presence. It also wanted faster coordination, information sharing and a direct route for government requests.

Paraiso said Discord’s written response did not satisfy those demands. He then told TechWatchPH that the CICC requested an NTC block and that an order had been issued.

Other reports confirmed access failures on several networks. They did not independently establish that every provider received or implemented the same order, and some providers continued carrying the service.

The NTC should release the directive Paraiso says it issued. Filipinos have a right to know who signed it, what legal authority supported it, which providers received it and what Discord must do to challenge or end the restriction.

The CICC should also release the letter it sent Discord, the company’s response and the standards used to judge that response inadequate. Government cannot demand accountability from private companies while concealing the basis of its own action.

THE DANGER IS REAL

Online grooming, sexual coercion, self-harm communities and violent recruitment are documented threats. Ignoring them would be equally irresponsible.

The National Bureau of Investigation arrested a 19-year-old man in Pampanga after investigating the alleged sexual exploitation of children through Roblox. The NBI said the suspect befriended a child through the game and offered Robux in exchange for sexually exploitative images.

The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group also reported rescue operations involving minors exposed to harmful online discussions, self-harm themes, violent imagery and material associated with violent extremism.

International cases show how these crimes can move between platforms. The United States Department of Justice charged five alleged leaders of Greggy’s Cult, a violent online network whose members allegedly found victims through Discord and games such as Roblox before bringing them into private video calls.

The case involved allegations of sexual exploitation, blackmail, degrading acts and self-harm. It shows why investigators need access to account records and why companies must respond quickly to lawful requests.

It also exposes the weakness of treating one application as the crime scene. An offender can meet a child in a game, continue through Discord, store material elsewhere and use another service for threats or payments.

The person and the evidence move. A platform block does not follow either one.

THE SHOOTING CONNECTION REMAINS UNRESOLVED

Philippine authorities increased their scrutiny of games and online communities after three fatal school shootings in 2026.

Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla called for GoreBox to be permanently banned after the Tacloban shooting. Following the Ateneo de Zamboanga University shooting, he said he would also push for a Roblox ban.

Posts blaming Senator Risa Hontiveros for proposing a blanket ban on online games were false. AFP found no official record of such a proposal from her and traced the public call for a ban to Remulla.

The possible connection between the Tacloban shooters and the violent network known as 764 is less settled than some government statements suggest.

Reports from the Senate hearing said authorities and researchers were examining possible grooming and extremist influence. They had not confirmed that the shooters belonged to 764 or that the network organized the attack.

BusinessMirror later quoted Paraiso as saying recovered messages established that the minors were active members who had been recruited and manipulated. The purported messages have not been publicly released for independent examination.

A subsequent analysis by the Global Network on Extremism and Technology identified Paraiso’s statement as the strongest official claim connecting the minors to 764. It also found that the public evidence could not establish whether contact occurred before the shooting or whether anyone directed the attack.

Those accounts conflict. No final public investigative report was found that resolves the contradiction or proves that Discord, Reddit or 764 directed the shooting.

The evidence supports continued investigation. It does not support treating use of a game or messaging service as proof that the service caused an attack.

GoreBox was initially blocked temporarily. Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda later said the restriction became permanent after discussions with the developer.

Authorities established that one Tacloban suspect regularly played the game. They did not publish evidence proving that GoreBox caused him to shoot his classmates.

Association should trigger an investigation. Converting it into causation only makes a ban easier to defend.

THE BLOCK FAILS ITS OWN TEST

The exact blocking method used by every Philippine provider has not been publicly documented. Technology outlets and users nevertheless reported that changing the DNS resolver restored access in many cases, although results differed by provider.

The Internet Society explains that DNS blocking does not remove content. It prevents a resolver from returning the usual address, leaving the service reachable through another resolver, a VPN or a direct connection.

The restriction therefore leaves Discord and its accounts online while creating an inconvenience at the entrance used by ordinary subscribers.

People engaged in criminal activity have strong reasons to learn a workaround or move elsewhere. A student attending a coding class, a freelancer waiting for a client or a parent unfamiliar with network settings may simply lose access.

Blocking selects for technical knowledge. The users most willing to evade government controls are also the ones least likely to remain blocked.

The Internet Society warns that DNS and Internet Protocol blocking can affect lawful services, create security problems and block more content than intended. Its policy guidance favors action against illegal material and the responsible actors, with network blocking reserved for necessary, proportionate and legally reviewed cases.

THE KNOWLEDGE GAP IS PART OF THE PROBLEM

Two UNICEF-backed Philippine studies found persistent gaps between how children use the internet and how well adults understand their online lives.

The Disrupting Harm study found that older caregivers had weaker digital skills and were less likely to recognize online risks. A separate Philippines Kids Online report found limited and inconsistent parental involvement in children’s internet activity, with unfamiliarity with technology identified as one possible reason.

These studies examined families, not public officials. They still warn against policies designed without a working knowledge of the technology being regulated.

Children and teenagers move quickly between games, social-media accounts, private servers and messaging applications. Instructions for changing DNS settings or installing a VPN can be passed through a short video or a message from a friend.

Officials responsible for cybercrime policy need to understand those movements. Protection becomes difficult when the intended beneficiaries know the digital environment better than the people writing the restrictions.

WHAT GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO

Republic Act No. 11930 already imposes duties on internet intermediaries in cases involving online sexual abuse or exploitation of children.

The law requires the preservation of subscriber, traffic and content data for specified periods. It also provides procedures for obtaining subscriber and traffic information and requires identified abusive material to be blocked or removed within the periods set by law.

Those are targeted powers aimed at evidence, content and offenders. Government should use them aggressively and publish the results.

Platforms serving Filipino children should maintain a reachable legal representative and an emergency contact that law-enforcement agencies can reach at any hour. Requests involving immediate threats should enter a dedicated channel with recorded response times.

Preservation requests should identify the accounts and evidence that must be retained. Investigators can then seek the proper subpoena, warrant or court order before the material disappears.

Child accounts should start with stronger privacy settings. Unknown adults should face limits on private messages, group invitations, file transfers and other features that can be used to isolate or exploit a minor.

Age checks should concentrate on risky features instead of forcing every user to surrender unnecessary personal information. Regulators should require public safety reports showing how quickly platforms respond, how many dangerous accounts are removed and how many emergency requests remain unanswered.

Penalties can increase when a company repeatedly ignores lawful orders. Fines, restrictions on a dangerous feature and court-supervised compliance measures can be used before cutting off an entire service.

A temporary platform suspension may become defensible when strong evidence shows continuing harm, lawful orders have failed and narrower remedies cannot protect users. Such a measure needs a published legal basis, independent review, a fixed expiration date and a clear appeal process.

THE REAL TEST

Child protection should be measured through rescued victims, preserved evidence, identified offenders and dangerous accounts removed before more children are harmed.

A block page proves that a telecommunications company can interrupt an ordinary connection. It says nothing about the groomer who changed a DNS setting, opened a VPN or contacted the child through another application.

Discord deserves scrutiny and should face penalties when it fails to remove abusive material, preserve evidence or respond to lawful requests.

Government owes Filipinos the same accountability. It should disclose its orders, defend their legal basis and show the measurable safety result produced by each restriction.

Children already know how to move between games, private servers, social-media accounts and VPNs. The officials tasked with protecting them need to understand those movements at least as well as they do.

A wall that users can walk around will never stop online grooming.