Groups warn against rising online child exploitation via AI tools

Children’s rights organizations said that online child exploitation is rapidly rising in the Philippines, as the country increasingly adopts artificial intelligence (AI).

“We are facing a reality where algorithms move faster than our laws, leaving children vulnerable to abuse before we even know the risks exist,” Plan International Pilipinas Executive Director Pebbles Sanchez-Ogang said in a statement on Monday.

The group, along with Consuelo Foundation, said that the proliferation of generative AI tools for images, videos, and voice recordings is being used to exploit and extort children online.

The AI-generated content includes sexual images, deepfake content, impersonation scams, and grooming tactics.

“With AI tools now lowering the technical barriers to creating manipulated sexual images and videos, advocates warn that children—particularly girls—face heightened risks of image-based abuse, cyberbullying, impersonation, and online blackmail,” they said in a statement.

The groups also noted that one in two children has experienced some form of online violence, and seven out of ten children reported experiencing online abuse.

However, the National Coordinating Center Against OSAEC-CSAEM underscored that the low reported incidents, in parallel with realities on the ground, suggest that many cases remain unreported.

Data from the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) showed that over 2.7 million cyber tipline reports were recorded in 2023 alone, highlighting a steep rise in Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC).

The commission added that chronic underreporting stems from poverty-driven vulnerabilities, family member involvement, and trauma from the abuse.

Earlier this month, the Expanded Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act was listed as one of the priority bills in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).

Other priority measures include the Anti-Political Dynasty Law, the Travel Tax Abolition, the Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability, or CADENA Act, the Independent People’s Commission Act, and the Party-List System Reform Act.

The LEDAC has committed to fast-tracking the passage of the 21 priority measures by June 2026. — Almira Louise S. Martinez