NEWS | Discord has told Philippine cybercrime officials it is open to hiring a local law firm to represent it in the country. The offer came at a meeting on October 22 at the headquarters of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center in Quezon City. Discord’s senior public policy advisor for Asia-Pacific, Vasundhara Singh, asked the government to treat a local legal representative and a physical office as two separate requirements.
Singh said Discord has used similar arrangements in countries such as Korea and Japan. The talks follow a tense September, when the agency gave Discord and Reddit 24 hours to name a local representative after school violence incidents. Discord was briefly blocked in the Philippines before access returned, and the agency apologized to the students and workers who use it.
Nothing is final yet
Both sides agreed that what Discord must do depends on the final wording of a bill in Congress. Executive director Renato Paraiso said a local representative must have the power to decide urgent or difficult matters and cannot simply pass messages along, so a law firm would need that authority to count.
Singh warned that requiring every platform to open a physical office could hit smaller companies and startups the hardest. The agency says its aim is to protect children from online sexual abuse and exploitation and to curb violent extremism online. The outcome could show how other global platforms will be expected to answer to Philippine authorities.
In BMN’s view, a law firm option could mean new work for local lawyers and an easier path for smaller platforms. Regulators will still want a contact who can act fast when a child is at risk, and unclear rules would leave every company guessing.
Should a platform used by millions of Filipinos need an office here, or is a reachable lawyer with real power enough?
