The SIM Card Registration Act is just one signature away from becoming a law. The bill is already awaiting the signature of Pres. Duterte. Either he signs it into law, vetoes it or allows it to expire for 30 days and it still automatically becomes a law.
We first reported about SIM Card Registration as early as 2005 (here). Initial efforts in Senate started in 2011 by Sen. Villar (read here) and in Congress back in 2015 (here) and again in 2016 in the Senate by Sen. Gatchalian (read here) and finally, during the bicameral conference last Wednesday, the bill has been reconciled and on its way to the Office of the President.
SIM Card Registration Bill: What you need to know?
Coincidentally, Sen. Drilon made a last-minute insertion requiring social media companies to validate the identity of users during account creation.
“It is our little contribution to fight the anonymity that provides the environment for trolls and other malicious attacks to thrive in the age of social media. This new provision will prevent anyone from making anonymous accounts online so they could attack anyone endlessly and viciously.”
— Senator Franklin Drilon, Co-author
Many questioned the connection between mandatory SIM card Registration and social media.
Perhaps the most plausible explanation is that a phone number is required to register an account and that phone number is identified to a specific person theoretically quashing any attempts of being anonymous on these platforms.
So how will this be implemented considering that there are a lot of loopholes or work-around? We will actually know once the bill is signed into law and an IRR is written for it (Implementing Rules and Regulations).
But for now, the most obvious approach is to look at existing regulations being implemented by similar entities requiring all users to identify themselves.
We’ve seen this being done by. the likes of GCash, PayMaya, Coins.PH, CIMB, ING and many more.
What do these online platforms have in common? Government mandates that their users are identifiable. No anonymous users or pseudonyms. How do they do it? It ranges from validating their email, phone number (via OTP) and providing a government ID in order to get a Verified account (sending a selfie with an ID on hand).
If this approach works for GCash/PayMaya, it should also work with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tiktok and many others.
Another approach would be to allow a user to register an account, login and be able to explore the site and read but they cannot react, comment, upload or write on their walls unless they do the final step in the verification process.
How about social media companies that do not have a physical presence or office in the Philippines? Just like some porn sites, these social media sites may be blocked by ISPs if they do not comply with the law.
Just like the Anti-Cybercrime Law and the Anti-Terrorism Law, we think many will challenge the SIM Card Registration Act and bring it to the Supreme Court. Only then will we really have a definite answer as to the constitutionality of some of the provisions included in this bill.
The biggest problem with the amendment is how it’s clear it was added in the last minute.
For example, it defines what a SIM card is, but doesn’t do the same for “social media”. Twitter and Facebook are clearly social media, but what about Reddit and Discord? If TikTok and YouTube are social media, does the bill also cover other media sharing (eg. Imgur) and streaming sites (Twitch)?
If they all are, how about self-hosted platforms like forums, imageboards, and Slack/Discord clones (eg. Mattermost)? How about the comment section of this website?
Then there’s the elephant in the room: online games. MMORPGs and multiplayer games nowadays have enough social features to be considered “social media”, and while many can tolerate real name registration, the “fictitious identity” section is also poorly worded that it implies you can’t name your characters besides your real name unless you want to face 6 years in prison. That’s gonna be a pain to implement in Mobile Legends, Fortnite, or whatever popular new online game rolls around.
And there’s the lack of clarification about business accounts, fan tributes, stage names, etc. The whole thing just feels too rushed to be taken seriously. It doesn’t help that the Feb 2, 2022 version of the bill isn’t widely available for people to read (it’s not even on the Senate’s website).
As usual magkakagulo-gulo yan sa implementation. Seems walang consultation sa mga may alam how online world works.