PNP monitoring child pornography on Twitter

The Philippine National Police (PNP) Anti-Cyber Crime Group is monitoring Twitter accounts that contain pornographic materials. 

In an exclusive report by Emil Sumangil said in Balitanghali on Friday, the authorities pointed to addiction to pornographic videos as one of the factors that causes people to commit crimes, such as rape.

The police lamented the easy access to these pornographic videos on social media, especially on Twitter. In some cases, these videos feature minors.

Twitter in a statement stressed that they have a strong policy against child pornography.

Police Senior Inspector Artemio Cinco, chief of the Investigation Section said that taking action against vulgar posts is difficult because they first need to secure a court warrant to get evidence. They also need a complainant, although they now have so-called "cyber-patrollers."

"We are in constant communication with these social media platforms. Kaya lang ang batas natin we are required to secure a court warrant  for them to be able to release, para rin yung ebidensya na makukuha natin magagamit natin laban sa kanila," he said.

"Kailangan namin ng complainant but we also have yung so-called namin na cyber-patrollers, hindi necessary na mayroong complainants to say na mayroon kaming ganitong pictures or ganitong nude photos na circulating online," he added.

The addiction to porn may not be a mental health problem, but it's a disorder that may need to be resolved if it disrupts a person's life and leads him or her to harm others.

Psychiatrist Dr. Mariano Gagui said that while it is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, porn addiction may be considered a personality disorder and it is one that can be cured.

Loneliness and depression can fuel this addiction, he explained

"Sa observation, usually, ang nagtutulak diyan ay loneliness, 'yong mag-isa ka, 'yong depression, very common 'yan," he said and added that the link between the use of illegal substances and porn addiction can't be denied. — Jessica Bartolome / AT, GMA News