MANILA, Philippines — The country’s biggest telecommunications companies are moving to cut access to websites that host or stream school-shooting footage and other extreme violent content, expanding the national response to a disturbing series of attacks that has pushed online safety, gun access and school security into the spotlight.
Globe Telecom, PLDT Inc. and its wireless unit Smart Communications said they would restrict access to websites carrying graphic footage of school shootings and similar acts of violence, with PLDT and Smart saying more than 100 websites have been identified for network-level blocking.
The move comes just days after the August 18, 2026 shooting at Ateneo de Zamboanga University’s junior high school campus, where a student fatally shot another student and later died by suicide. Authorities confirmed that parts of the attack were livestreamed through a body-worn camera, turning an already shocking act of school violence into material that could rapidly spread across social media and other websites.
The Zamboanga incident was the second deadly Philippine school shooting in less than two months, following the June 22 attack at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City that killed three students and injured others.
Telcos Target Websites Hosting Graphic Violence
Globe said telecommunications companies have a responsibility to help create a safer online environment, particularly for minors.
Globe General Counsel Froilan Castelo said the industry could work together by removing access through their networks to websites that promote or distribute violent material.
PLDT, meanwhile, said it would block more than 100 identified websites carrying school-shooting footage or other forms of extreme violence. The restrictions will operate at the network level, meaning subscribers would not need to activate separate parental-control software for the identified sites to become inaccessible through PLDT and Smart networks.
PLDT Chief Operating Officer Butch Jimenez said the company intends to act preemptively as harmful sites are discovered.
The company also said its blocklist could continue expanding as new websites are identified through monitoring and cooperation with government agencies, child-protection organizations and parenting groups.
Globe Points to Previous Online Child-Safety Campaign
For Globe, the latest move is also being positioned as an extension of its existing child-protection programs.
According to the company, it blocked 438,446 domains and URLs linked to child sexual abuse and exploitation material in 2025, supported by more than US$2.7 million in investments in filtering and blocking technology.
The expansion into violent-content blocking reflects a growing concern that internet providers may face increasing pressure to intervene not only against illegal material but also against graphic content that can be repeatedly copied, uploaded and redistributed after violent incidents.
Why the Zamboanga Shooting Changed the Debate
The Zamboanga attack significantly intensified the issue because the violence was not simply recorded afterward.
Officials said the attacker livestreamed at least part of the shooting, using a body-worn camera. Images and clips subsequently circulated online, prompting calls from Filipinos and institutions to stop resharing graphic material connected with the deaths.
The incident also reopened questions over how minors gain access to social-media platforms and violent online communities.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian has backed proposals that would restrict social-media use among children under 16, while authorities have been examining the online behavior of students involved in recent shootings.
But investigators have not reduced the problem to social media alone.
The Zamboanga investigation also centers on how the student obtained the firearm used in the attack. Reuters reported that one of the weapons involved was linked to the attacker’s father, a Bureau of Customs employee, strengthening calls for tougher accountability for licensed gun owners who fail to secure their firearms.
Tacloban Shooting Had Already Raised Alarm Over Online Influence
The Philippines had already begun investigating the possible role of digital communities after the June school shooting in Tacloban.
Following that attack, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center temporarily blocked the violent sandbox game GoreBox while authorities examined whether online influences had played any role in the suspects’ behavior.
The Senate subsequently opened an inquiry into online grooming, violent digital communities and possible radicalization among minors.
Justice officials also said investigators were examining whether the Tacloban attack could involve what they described as nihilistic violent extremism, rather than treating the case only as an isolated bullying incident.
Those investigations remain important because there is a crucial distinction between examining possible online influences and claiming that violent media directly causes violent behavior.
No credible investigation cited so far has established that exposure to a particular game, video or website by itself caused either Philippine school shooting.
Blocking Videos May Help — But It Cannot Solve the Entire Problem
The decision by Globe, PLDT and Smart could make it harder for disturbing footage to remain easily accessible through their networks.
It could also limit the repeated circulation of material that turns real killings into viral spectacle.
But the emerging national debate now stretches far beyond internet filtering.
Authorities and lawmakers are confronting at least four connected issues: access to firearms, school security, minors’ exposure to harmful online spaces, and the speed with which graphic content spreads through social media.
Education Secretary Sonny Angara has said preventing future attacks will require strong community involvement alongside physical security measures, while Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla has pushed for tighter firearm safeguards and greater responsibility among gun owners.
That distinction matters.
Blocking violent footage addresses what happens after violent material reaches the internet.
Preventing another school shooting requires authorities to understand what happens before someone enters a campus with a weapon.
And after two deadly school attacks in less than two months, that may now be the much harder question facing the Philippines.
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