Meta and Roblox agreed to strengthen child safety protections for users in the Philippines, the country’s Information and Communications Technology Secretary Henry Aguda said on Thursday.
Aguda told Reuters that the commitments emerged from face-to-face sessions in Singapore between Philippine officials and executives of both companies. The agreed measures include age verification, parental controls, faster takedowns of harmful content, and closer cooperation with law enforcement. Both companies also agreed to engage with Philippine legislators as Congress considers online safety measures, Aguda said.
“Both agreed to the safety protocols that we requested,” Aguda said, including having the companies establish a local office presence, provide age verification, cooperate with law enforcement, and remove harmful content more quickly.
According to Aguda, Roblox hopes to have a Philippine office up and running by October at the earliest, while Meta plans to dispatch a team to Manila to determine how it will grow its footprint there.
The agreement came one day after Meta reached a landmark settlement with 29 U.S. states over allegations that its platforms harmed children. Under that settlement, Meta agreed to pay up to $16.68 billion and to introduce daily time caps and overnight restrictions for teenage users of Facebook and Instagram, strengthen age-checking systems, and expand parental controls. Meta denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
Ahead of the Singapore talks, Aguda said the U.S. settlement would boost discussions with Meta on child safety and platform accountability.
The Singapore meetings come at a moment when Philippine legislators are weighing a range of proposals aimed at shielding minors on the internet, among them measures that could limit or prohibit children’s use of social media platforms. Pressure for tougher rules intensified following a deadly shooting at a university in the southern Philippines last week, during which officials reported that one student broadcast the attack live, as well as a separate school violence episode in June.
Asked whether the companies would accept a potential social media ban for minors, Aguda said Meta and Roblox indicated they would cooperate with whatever policy Philippine lawmakers ultimately adopt.
Meta and Roblox did not respond to a request for comment.
