Digital rights advocates are urging the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to scrap its planned mandatory identification verification for social media users, citing “serious effects” on free speech and the potential for censorship.
DICT in January said it is eyeing requiring social media users to register or be verified, similar to the SIM Card Registration Act, to prevent scams and other cybercrimes.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III raised a similar idea, saying people should be limited to one verified account per social media platform to prevent the proliferation of “trolls.”
In a statement, the Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA), along with its co-signees LIGHTS Institute and Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team, tagged the DICT proposal as overbroad and in conflict with the Constitution.
They said the DICT’s proposal would compel all social media users — suspected of wrongdoing or not, or in the Philippines or not — “to surrender their right to privacy,” for law enforcement to run after actual online criminals more easily.
They also stressed that the proposal fails to precisely describe social media platforms, which could capture “an infinite range” of digital apps and online platforms, making compliance unpredictable and enforcement arbitrary.
The draft department circular remains in the consultation period.
In a publicly-uploaded consultation, the DICT said the eyed circular “aims to establish accountability in cyberspace by ensuring that every social media account accessible in the Philippines is attributable to a verifiable juridical entity or natural person, thereby deterring malicious activity through total anonymity.”
But the FMA statement raised that the policy’s requirements infringe on people’s freedom of expression and association, instead of guarding them from harm.
They said it “shifts the burden to ordinary users, instead of improving law enforcement capability or platform accountability.”
Threat to free speech, censorship, surveillance
The statement noted that requiring social media users to register their identity “has a serious effects on free speech, with a crackdown on anonymity being tantamount to censorship.”
The statement further pointed out the circular’s vague language in describing the “destabilization of national security” “makes the policy easy to weaponize against legitimate dissent and government critics.”
The database that the mandatory registration would establish will also put a massive amount of personal data at risk of becoming a prime target for cybercriminals, they added.
“Exposing Filipino citizens’ data to such a high level of risk defeats the supposed purpose of the circular,” they said.
The same concerns were raised during the deliberations of the SIM Registration Act, enacted in 2022, requiring SIM card users to present any official identification before use.
An earlier version of the law that included social media registration was vetoed by then-President Rodrigo Duterte due to public clamor concerning free speech and data privacy.
“Safety cannot be achieved and cybercrime cannot be eradicated by eroding anonymity as a whole, especially in contexts where there is power imbalance, and where surveillance, harassment and retaliation are real, with the risks well-documented,” the groups said of the DICT proposal.
The advocates added that there is no assurance the planned measure will work as intended.
In 2025, more than two years since the SIM Registration Act was enacted, the number of scams via phone calls in the Philippines was seen rising, beating text scams, according to DICT’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center.
No mandate for penal laws
FMA and its co-signees also underscored that the DICT has no mandate to impose sanctions resembling criminal penalties.
They cited the draft circular’s inclusion of new offenses and penalties in reference to the Data Privacy Act of 2012 and the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012,which they said was added “without offering a clear explanation of how they are supposed to apply and/or be enforced.”
“This is unacceptable,” they said.
They said only Congress can pass penal laws, a process and power that they said should not be circumvented by administrative circulars.
“It’s worth remembering that surveillance-based solutions masked as safety policies often fail because those who are intent on committing crimes will find ways around them,” the advocates said.
They said with proposals like mandatory social media registration, it would be “the ordinary users that usually bear the inconvenience and other negative consequences.” (ABS-CBN News)