Philippines pushes ASEAN-wide big tech accountability

The Philippines is pushing to elevate big tech accountability from national talks to an ASEAN-wide agenda, following recent meetings with Meta and Roblox in Singapore, focusing on scams, harmful content, deepfakes, and child safety. DICT Secretary Henry Aguda argues regional coordination would give Southeast Asian governments more leverage over global platforms, citing ASEAN's nearly 700 million population as collective bargaining power. Meta has agreed to step up coordination on harmful content and cybercrime, while Roblox committed to tighter child-safety measures. The initiative will be raised at ASEAN ministerial meetings in Manila on October 9-10 and October 15-17, with the goal of establishing enforceable regional norms rather than voluntary promises.