“We are so back!”
Microblogging and social media platform Tumblr announced that it has successfully restored access for Filipino users after accessibility issues earlier this week.
The site on Friday, March 13, said that users from the Philippines can now access Tumblr after experiencing problems accessing the platform since Tuesday, March 10.
“Huge news for our users in the Philippines!” the platform said in a social media post.
“Huge news! The Republic of the Philippines has officially moved to restore access to Tumblr. Our users in the Philippines should have access restored, if not in the very immediate future,” Tumblr said in a statement.
“The Philippine government cited the ‘surge of reports’ in their press release. In other words, y’all really did that. In closing: we are so back!” it added.
huge news for our users in the Philippines! 🎉 pic.twitter.com/7ri7UGbArg
— Tumblr (@tumblr) March 12, 2026
The error
Meanwhile, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) said it has “officially moved to restore access” to the popular site and 17 other legitimate websites following a “technical system error” that led to a national crackdown.
“Following a surge of reports from concerned netizens regarding the sudden loss of access, the CICC launched an immediate investigation into the service disruption and we are currently pushing to restore Tumblr, as soon as possible,” it said in a report.
“Preliminary findings reveal that while the CICC was in the process of neutralizing millions of illicit gaming domains, a system glitch flagged 18 domains that host legitimate platforms—including Tumblr—as ‘accessories’ to illegal gambling operations,” the CICC added.
It said that the domains were submitted through its Site Blocking and Monitoring Dashboard (SBMD).
“The SBMD system includes a whitelist safeguard consisting of known legitimate gambling domains from PAGCOR, as well as selected widely used platforms and services. These entries are automatically excluded from the blocking process during system processing,” the CICC said.
“Following system validation against the whitelist, the submitted list was processed and transmitted through the standard blocking workflow to the NTC and partner ISPs for implementation. The error resulted in an unintentional nationwide temporary access disruption, causing public alarm among the platform’s significant Filipino user base,” it added.
The agency said it is “currently fine-tuning” its automated detection systems to ensure that moves against cybercrime “do not result in collateral damage to the open internet.”
“The list submitted for processing contained a significantly high number of domains. While system safeguards filtered out known entries in the whitelist, some domains that serve as general hosting platforms or domain registries were not included in the existing whitelist,” the CICC explained.
“Consequently, these domains were processed together with the reported illicit sites. The blocking actions were implemented by telecommunications providers in good faith, consistent with the expectation that submitted lists had already undergone prior validation,” it added.
The private monitoring partner of the CICC said that it will implement a manual verification process, alongside an AI verification system, to filter out legal websites to ensure such incidents would not happen again.
ALSO READ: Tumblr users question ‘gambling site’ tag after Philippine access issues | Tumblr addresses access problems as some Filipino users face restrictions
Tumblr users in the Philippines previously reported issues accessing the site after it was flagged as an “unlicensed gambling site.”
Others also encountered a notice saying that Tumblr was not a safe site and warning that “attackers” may be “trying to steal” their information.
Tumblr is a microblogging and social media platform that allows users to create, share, and curate multimedia content such as text posts, photos, GIFs and videos on customizable personal blogs.
