The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Wednesday evening clarified that the extension it granted in connection with its 24-hour directive applies only to Reddit and does not cover Discord.
In a statement, the CICC said Reddit was granted an extension after its officials met with the agency online within the prescribed 24-hour period and discussed specific commitments aimed at strengthening online child safety in the Philippines.
“Reddit was granted an extension after its officials met with CICC online within the prescribed 24-hour period and engaged with the agency on specific commitments that the Philippines urgently needs to strengthen online child safety,” the CICC said.
The agency said Discord had separately reached out through a letter to discuss its existing teen safety measures.
However, the CICC clarified that “no extension has been granted to Discord at this time, pending direct discussions with the platform and concrete commitments to meet the agency’s requirements.“
The clarification came after the CICC initially said that both Reddit and Discord had been granted an extension to comply with its directive requiring the platforms to establish local offices in the Philippines.
The CICC’s directive comes as Philippine authorities continue to examine the presence of extremist communities on online platforms, including groups associated with nihilistic violent extremism (NVE).
Authorities have linked NVE-related online communities to the radicalization and recruitment of minors involved in recent school shooting incidents in the country.
