TikTok: 21M videos from PH removed for violations

Social media app Tiktok said it removed 21 million videos from the Philippines from April 2024 to May 2025 due to community guidelines violations.

“April 2024 to May 2025, we took down 21 million videos here in the Philippines alone that violated all community guidelines. Of that 21 million, 99.7%, I believe, was proactively removed,” Peachy Paderna, TikTok Philippines public policy manager, said Thursday during a hearing of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality.

She explained that “proactively removed” means TikTok took down the videos even without any reports, as long as its team observed that these violated the platform’s community guidelines.

Paderna also said that of the videos that were proactively removed, 99.4% were taken down within 24 hours.  

These videos have content that included nudity and sexual material, abuse, and exploitation.

She added that TikTok takes down flagged videos “right away” regardless of who reported it.

AI-related crimes

In the same hearing, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) deputy executive director Renato Paraiso called for the strengthening of existing measures to address artificial intelligence-related crimes, as there are “loopholes.”

“There is a real big void when it comes to dealing with (AI-related) crimes,” Paraiso said. “Even if ma-prosecute sila, the only crime I see that was violated ay identity theft.”

(Even if perpetrators are prosecuted, the only crime I see that was violated is identity theft.)

He pointed out that a common sentiment that he observed is that AI-generated pornography is seen as a “victimless crime.”

“Laws have to catch up with existing crimes that are being perpetrated online, and they have to be flexible and adaptable so that they can address emerging technologies like AI and other technology available out there,” Paraiso said.

Computer-related identity theft, cybersex, and child pornography are among the offenses covered under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

However, AI and deepfake content are not defined under the said measure.

The Department of Justice reported that 48 cases related to pornography, of which 17 cases involved children.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) said it has no record of reported crimes related to artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfakes.

“As per our record, pertaining to deepfake and AI-supported digital materials, we have not yet received official reports and no records,” said Police Colonel Romeo Desiderio, PNP ACG acting deputy director for operations.

However, Desiderio said PNP-ACG has a cyber patrolling unit in which they work on cases relating to cybercrimes in general.

Citing data from the PNP-ACG, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Sara Sison said there are 294 cases of photo and video voyeurism cases in 2023 and 362 cases in 2024.

She explained that the numbers translate to an 11% year-over-year increase, of which 85% of the victims are women.

“There seems to be a lack of reporting mechanisms. Naguguluhan, natatakot magreport, o natatakot silang na walang managayayri (they’re confused on where to report, afraid to report, or afraid that nothing will happen with their case),” Paraiso said.

The public may reach out to CICC’s National Anti-Scam hotline at 1326 or PNP’s 911 hotline to report cyber-related crimes. — RF, GMA Integrated News