Manila: The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) will study what privacy safeguards to implement for a proposed online age verification system for social media and gaming platforms. The move followed concerns raised by stakeholders during a town hall meeting on Wednesday, where participants emphasized that age assurance should determine whether a user belongs to a particular age group while limiting the personal information that must be disclosed.
According to Philippines News Agency, the CICC said the meeting brought together representatives from government agencies, organizations, and digital safety advocates to gather insights ahead of the creation of a technical working group (TWG) with Meta and Roblox this month. The TWG will craft stricter directives against online child grooming, fraud, and anonymous malicious activities.
CICC Undersecretary Executive Director Renato "Aboy" Paraiso agreed that privacy and pseudonymity must be preserved but stressed that these should not prevent authorities from identifying predators and groomers who use online platforms to target children. "Privacy does not equate to identifiability. In the discussion of child safety, we also have to acknowledge the fact that we must also go after the predators, we must also go after the groomers, and for that to happen, we need to identify them," Paraiso said. "Privacy, pseudonyms should not be taken away, but we must identify threat actors," he added.
Paraiso was responding to concerns raised by participants who stressed that age verification should not be confused with identity verification. "Age verification is not the same as identity verification. If the objective is simply to establish that a person is above a certain age, then the system should answer only that question," said Gail Cruz Macapagal of Women of Blockchain Philippines. She said the process should not require users to provide information beyond what is necessary to establish their age.
The Philippine Statistics Authority similarly pointed to the Philippine Identification System as a possible tool for age assurance, while stressing that its use should not result in unnecessary disclosure of personal information. "The important point that we'd like to emphasize is that age verification should not mean requiring a child to disclose more personal information than necessary," Assistant National Statistician Henedine Palabras said. She said the national ID could be used to verify a particular attribute, such as whether a person meets the required age threshold, without unnecessarily exposing the person's complete identity. "This is where privacy by design becomes very important," Palabras said.
The National Privacy Commission also welcomed the proposed "yes-no" approach to age verification, saying it would verify only the necessary age attribute while protecting users' personal information from disclosure. The NPC said further discussions should cover the proposed technical architecture, including what information would be processed, how long verification data would be retained, whether third parties would be involved, and how the information would be protected.
While questions surrounding the design and implementation of age verification still need to be resolved, stakeholders agreed on the key goal of ensuring that online platforms provide a safe environment for children. Paraiso said the TWG will address the recommendations raised during the consultation by examining the legal, due process, data minimization, and technical architecture of the proposed system.
