The chain of events began on Sept. 18, with a shooting at Banga National High School in South Cotabato. Three days later, on Sept. 21, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center sent letters to Discord and Reddit ordering both platforms to immediately designate a resident agent or local representative, explain their safety and age verification measures, and warning of restrictions if they failed to comply within 24 hours.
Reddit met the moment: officials including vice president of policy Jessica Ashooh met with the agency, discussed “green lanes” for flagging harmful content, and committed to opening a Philippine office, earning the platform an extension. Discord initially sent only a letter, and the CICC later clarified it had not extended Discord’s deadline, pending direct discussions and concrete commitments.
The result arrived Wednesday evening, Sept. 23: Discord users on Globe and DITO networks lost access, met instead with a notice saying access had been blocked under an NTC directive. DICT Secretary Henry Aguda confirmed the ban took effect that evening, and the NTC said the order applied specifically to Globe and DITO subscribers. The disruption hit students, gamers, and freelancers who rely on the platform for work, though some found workarounds through DNS changes or a VPN.
By Thursday, Sept. 24, the standoff had ended. The CICC ordered the block lifted following a meeting with Discord’s management, in which the platform agreed to designate a point person in the Philippines, establish a “green lane” coordination channel with authorities, and promise a faster process for handling government investigation requests.
“Yup, we’re ordering the lifting,” said CICC Executive Director and DICT Undersecretary Renato “Aboy” Paraiso, who also apologized to the public over the ban and said authorities were working to restore access. Access to Discord, however, remained restricted on Globe and DITO networks as of Thursday afternoon.
The block was not without pushback: former DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said about 15,000 Filipino freelancers had been affected, citing the Barangay VA Helpdesk — a Discord community with more than 12,000 members — as well as the Nexus and Jobcord servers used by Filipino virtual assistants.
