Concerns were raised following the Philippine government’s consideration to ban the messaging platform Telegram an attempt to curb pornography, financial scammers and deepfakes.
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Henry Aguda said the agency has been meeting with other social networking platforms, such as Meta, Instagram, and WhatsApp, to seek ways to curb such activities.
Telegram has been particularly associated with scams and fakes due to the nature of its mostly anonymous user base. Unlike other chat platforms, Telegram allows users to hide mobile numbers.
“Ayon ang napag-agreehan namin na non-negotiable. Ito, bantayan niyo ngayon sa social media, sabihin niyo sa akin kung nakikita niyo na, one, online sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Sabi ko, kapag may nakita pakong isa, magalit na sa akin ang magalit, pero ibo-block ko sila,” Aguda said in an interview, referring to the platforms.
Telegram has been urged, he said, to coordinate on enforcing local regulations. Aguda admitted that the effort to reach out to and work with the platform, however, has been difficult.
DICT has been working with the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation to combat bad actors, as the country has been plagued by financial scams, Aguda said.
In 2024, Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested during an investigation into crimes linked to his platform, such as the circulation of child sexual abuse material, drug trafficking, and fraudulent transactions.
He has also faced criticism from Western authorities for weak moderation on the app.
Reactions to possible ban
Reports of Telegram’s potential ban in the Philippines irked some regular users who use the platform for personal, school or work.
“@DICTgovph, just coordinate with Telegram to better filter illegal porn. Telegram is way better than Viber. For some reason, workplaces love Viber. Lol. Normal Telegram users exist. We have sh*t load of work [or] business-related stuff saved there,” a Pinoy said.
“Bakit IBA-BAN??? Telegram has been our backup for important files that no longer fit on our phones. We have valuable files stored there. It’s unfair to penalize users who rely on it for legitimate and practical purposes,” another Pinoy wrote.
“Why not crack down on accounts that engage in scams and pornography instead of affecting everyone who has been using TG peacefully and unproblematically???” exclaimed a different user.
“What if coordinate with Telegram to track down those scammers and illegal porn,” said another user.
“We used Telegram in review school for easier sharing of review materials. Kahit sa ibang class [or] set, makakahingi ka ng review mats, heck, even from other review schools, na-sha-share dito. Ban niyo kaya ‘yung mga porn sites instead na gantong app,” commented a different user.
“No consideration man lang sa normal users? The scammers will just change platforms, samantalang ang nakiki-text lang sa TG, nawalan ng messaging option,” said another Pinoy.
“Why not work with Telegram na lang? Para ma-detect niyo ‘yung mga users na scammers at nag-spread ng porn? Why ban agad? Paano naman ‘yung mga users na ginagamit ng maayos ‘yung Telegram? Telegram is way better than other messaging apps, actually. Security, storage and connectivity,” said a different user.
“Alam ba nila na PGH almost runs on Telegram? Students, residents, consultants use Telegram kasi mas secure (and ito lang ang hindi banned sa wifi network) to communicate,” another Pinoy commented.
Telegram users can send messages, photos, videos, and files of any type, as well as create groups for up to 200,000 people.
It supports encrypted voice and video calls, as well as group voice chats.
The platform also has a multi-data center infrastructure and encryption, making it faster and more secure for people to use as a messaging platform.