On June 22, 2026, something shocking shattered the peace at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City. At around 9:13 a.m. that day, two young boys, ages 14 and 15, opened fire on campus. The horrifying attack claimed the lives of three students and left 20 others injured. The teenage shooters were believed to have been influenced by violent content on the internet.
Social media platforms are not public services. They are moneymaking machines owned by moguls whose sole desire and purpose in life, it seems, is to make billions of dollars and further enrich themselves, never mind the consequences.
Internet service providers (ISPs) use engagement-driven algorithms designed to lure young audiences and make them addicted to watching harmful content. Algorithms are computer instructions like “digital robots” that gather information about you and know your likes and dislikes, your habits, and what you search online. Then they track you and know what and how long you watch a video. They combine your viewing data with personal information — age, device type and location — to predict what you want to see next. They will send you unwanted, sensational and extreme content showing violence, pornography, child abuse, and even violent extremism, like what those two Tacloban boys imitated. ISPs have done little to block such evil and damaging content despite Philippine law demanding them to do so.
An estimated 500,000 Filipino children — or about one in 100 in the country — were trafficked to produce new child sexual exploitation material or subjected to livestreamed abuse in a single year. Assessments from the United Nations Children’s Fund say that up to 2 million internet-using children aged 12 to 17 have experienced some form of online sexual abuse or exploitation.
Offshore sex offenders pay as little as $15 to $25 a session. According to the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council, transactions originating from the United States trigger the largest volume of suspicious financial reports related to the online sexual abuse or exploitation of children.
The Philippine law is strict but largely ignored. Republic Act 11930, or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act, instructs telecommunications companies to install state-of-the-art blocking software, but they don’t. Corrupt officials take bribes to ignore violations of the law. These intrusions into the lives of users can cause severe psychological harm in children, including rising rates of anxiety, depression and sleep deprivation. These can also drive young people to violent actions.
Banning young people from social media is like stopping a bird from flying. Besides, there are fundamental rights to be respected, like those of free speech and freedom of expression, which good, positive and educational platforms provide, along with access to educational material. Besides, smart young people nowadays can use virtual private networks, which shield them from detection when using the internet to access certain websites. Such a ban would prevent young people from accessing help sites. It would also entice children to visit restricted sites and become all the more vulnerable and subject to online sexual abuse, grooming and blackmail. It is the providers and enablers of dangerous material online that must be curbed more. Restrictions on children’s access to certain sites are welcome; they can help save children from abuse. More importantly, those sites should be identified and blocked.
Restricted use
Another recent internet-related problem arose with the alleged interference of a high-ranking United States official who ordered the restricted use of the military version of the satellite internet service by the Ukrainian army, which is fighting a brave battle for their nation’s survival. The US military and the White House ordered the restriction of the Starshield satellite internet system — the military variant of Starlink — used by Ukraine. This prevented Ukrainian drones from attacking Russian oil refineries. US President Donald Trump, who is a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made a deal to buy Russian diesel. Diesel is in short supply in the US, impairing the efforts of Trump’s Republican Party to keep control of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterm elections this year.
The internet restriction pressured Ukrainian leader President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop attacking Russian oil refineries. Oil sales are a source of Russia’s wealth and help fund Putin’s war on Ukraine. The internet restriction prevented Ukrainian drones from reaching their targets while Russian drones and missiles rained down on Ukraine’s cities and power stations. Zelenskyy has spoken out against the deal, saying it empowered the Russian economy and, by extension, enabled Russia to continue its attacks on his country. In effect, Zelenskyy said President Trump was helping Russia attack Ukraine. The internet restriction also put Ukrainians in greater danger, as there were no warnings of Russian attacks. The satellite restrictions severely compromised Ukraine’s defense systems. Without proper connectivity, Ukrainian forces were unable to receive early air raid warnings or properly intercept a subsequent barrage of over 850 Russian drones. More people died in the bombardments.
The US explicitly threatened to stop exchanging critical military intelligence if Ukraine refused to halt its drone attacks on Russian refineries. Following Ukraine’s resumption of strikes against a Rosneft refinery in Ryazan, Trump labeled the actions a “disgrace” and publicly declared that Ukraine needs a new president. Zelenskyy said in an interview that the moves mean “Ukraine is losing a strong partner in the US” and that Trump is being pushed onto the wrong side of history. European allies have also expressed intense frustration and anger, viewing the US actions as a major betrayal of the Western coalition.
