DICT chief sees no valid reason for TikTok ban in PH

Bohol (CNN Philippines, November 23) — Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy on Thursday shrugged off a possible ban on the social media platform TikTok in the Philippines, saying he does not see a valid reason for such a move.

«Absent the valid showing of the danger to society, I think a whimsical decision to just ban anything because we do not like it or there is so much rumor or there is so much talk without concrete factual evidence based reason for it. I think that is not very rational,» said Uy during a media huddle at the sidelines of the Geeks On A Beach tech conference at Panglao Island in Bohol.

The DICT chief described the reports of a ban on Tiktok as mere «tick talks.»

Uy, however, said the DICT is aware of the proliferation of misinformation on social media and not just on Tiktok.

He explained that they are in talks with social media giants since a lot of these dangerous misinformation and hate speeches occur in these various platforms.

«We do not like to exercise censorship,» Uy stressed. «There is a certain level of free speech for select countries. Of course, there are other countries where free speech is not a right. In those that do, there has to be, I think, self-regulation on the part of the app or the providers in order to really exercise more discernment.»

According to the DICT official, there are certain grey areas which demand more conversations and discussions and that is why they are engaging with all the giant social media platforms.

«We are working with them and establishing better online safety by not allowing or making it difficult for scammers to use those platforms in order to deceive or default the public when they use it,» he said.

Uy added that there will be due process before deciding to ban a social media platform.