CICC apologizes for inconvenience caused by Discord ban

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The Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) apologized Thursday for the inconvenience caused by its order that temporarily banned media sharing and messaging platform Discord in the Philippines.

During a press briefing, DICT Undersecretary Renato "Aboy" Paraiso, executive director of the CICC, issued an apology for the inconvenience caused by the hours-long inaccessibility of Discord.

“Humingi ako ng pasensya sa lahat ng naapektuhan at mga naabala sa ilang oras na ban ng Discord sa bansa. Inaayos na namin ang lahat kaagapay ang Discord,” the CICC chief said.

(I apologized to everyone affected and inconvenienced by the few-hour Discord ban in the country. We are already fixing everything in coordination with Discord.)

The lifting of the ban came after the CICC and Discord management’s meeting earlier to discuss compliance matters.

Paraiso said Discord has committed to give the agency a “green lane” to monitor and recognize threat actors in its platform.

The platform was also given the choice to either establish a local satellite office or send representatives in the country for ease of communication and coordination.

The CICC on Tuesday gave both Reddit and Discord 24 hours to establish a Philippine presence within 24 hours to enhance collaboration with the government following the shooting at the Banga National High School in South Cotabato.

DICT Secretary Henry Aguda announced that Discord already committed to strengthen its child protection measures in the platform.

“They also recognized and acknowledged na merong kailangan ayusin at paghigpitan sa kanilang mga polisiya (their policies need fixing and be stricter),” Aguda said. —RF, GMA News