School shooting footage online? PLDT moves to block 100+ sites

National

AIMING to stop violent acts from becoming online spectacles, PLDT Inc. said it will block more than 100 websites that stream or host footage of school shootings and other acts of extreme violence.

The Manuel V. Pangilinan-led telco said the preemptive measure is intended to ensure its networks are not used to distribute content that glorifies violence and could put communities, particularly children, at risk.

“This is something we do not tolerate,” PLDT chief operations officer Butch Jimenez said in an Inquirer report. He added that the company would not allow its networks to be used as a channel for content that glorifies violence or puts communities, especially children, at risk.

The blocking will also cover the network of its wireless arm, Smart Communications Inc., meaning subscribers of both PLDT and Smart will no longer be able to access the identified websites.

The announcement came three days after a shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Mindanao, where a 14-year-old student shot and killed another junior high school student before also fatally shooting himself. Two others were wounded.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla earlier said the shooting was livestreamed through the shooter’s Facebook account and another website.

The incident was the second fatal school shooting in the country in less than two months. In June, three students were killed and at least 20 others were wounded in a shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, Leyte.

PLDT did not disclose the websites it would block but said it would continue identifying additional sites through its own monitoring and in coordination with government agencies, child protection organizations and parenting communities, as it moves to keep content that turns real-world violence into entertainment off its networks and out of wider circulation.

Jimenez said the company would continue taking decisive action whenever such material is identified.

Authorities have also examined the possible role of online games in both shootings. In the Zamboanga case, Remulla said the student may have been influenced by Roblox, while the Tacloban incident led to the suspension of GoreBox.

The Department of Information and Communications Technology has yet to determine whether Roblox played a role in the Zamboanga shooting, although it said the game developer was cooperating with authorities.

PLDT said the latest blocking effort is part of its broader child protection and online safety programs, which include blocking sites that host child sexual abuse material. In the first two months of 2026, PLDT and Smart blocked 176,000 attempts to access content linked to the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.(MyTVCebu)