Globe sees illegal website blocks increase in Q1

MANILA, Philippines — Globe Telecom Inc. ramped up its campaign against illegal activities online, as blocking efforts grew by double digits in the first quarter.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Ayala-led telco said the number of online gambling, smishing, and phishing sites that they blocked soared 41.3% year-on-year in the January-March period.

Telcos started seeing an exponential increase in scam messages and illegal activities during pandemic lockdowns. To combat this, the state decided to legislate the registration of SIM cards.

But this was met with widespread opposition from civil society groups. Criticisms hurled towards the decision highlighted concerns surrounding data protection and privacy laws. 

Data broken down showed Globe blocked access to 554 online gambling, smishing and phishing sites in the first quarter. The telco noted they were still reporting malicious links that advocate for online gambling to state regulators and law enforcement.

That said, the telco said they blocked 4.07 million bank-related spam messages in the first quarter, inching up 2.7% compared to a year ago.

That said, Globe said they spent over $20 million for detecting scam and spam text messages. — Ramon Royandoyan