The PNP ACG met with TikTok representatives in Camp Crame in Quezon City on Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. —Contributed photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP ACG) partnered with social media platform TikTok in a bid to boost the drive against online scams and exploitation.
The collaboration streamlines investigations of criminal activity on TikTok and training of ACG personnel to better understand the platform, public information officer Lt. Wallen Mae Arancillo told reporters at Camp Crame on Thursday.
“If someone complains of an online scam using TikTok, there is no need for a letter. There will be a focal person that the PNP-ACG can coordinate with to speed up the process,” Arancillo said in Filipino.
“TikTok also committed to training ACG personnel for them to better understand TikTok’s processes so they can investigate faster,” she added.
TikTok has 1.051 billion users, including 43.4 million Filipinos, as of January 2023.
The PNP ACG met with TikTok at the former’s headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City on Wednesday, Dec. 18, the anti-cybercrime unit said in a statement.
“We aim for our law enforcement partners to have a clear understanding of our operating procedures and legal requirements, and proactively engage with us to raise issues, concerns or emerging threats that could impact user or community safety on our platform,” said Elisabeth Potuijt, TikTok Southeast Asia Law Enforcement Outreach manager.
Shopping scam
According to Arancillo, during their meeting, the social media platform cited scams on its shopping feature, which was first launched in 2021.
“TikTok first monitored this when they launched their online selling feature. They saw, as other platforms did, that TikTok was being used for online scams by cybercriminals,” Arancillo said.
“Usually, what is being sent to the user, once they order online, is a substandard item. Sometimes, they receive an item that is not what they ordered. In some cases, once they’ve paid, their items aren’t shipped out,” she added.
The platform reported in its TikTok Shop Safety Report last October that, from January to June 2024, it removed 124,000 prohibited products after listing and 100 million listings from 2.2 million shops closed due to shop-level violations.
It also removed the e-commerce features of more than 500,000 creators and deactivated the accounts of two million sellers.
The TikTok Shop report, however, did not provide statistics specific to the Philippines.
Against exploitation
Arancillo added that they also discussed a more specific collaboration with the PNP ACG’s Women and Children Cybercrime Protection Unit in terms of online exploitation.
“The videos there on TikTok often involve children. These children are being used for exploitation materials, from which other people profit,” she said.
A report from TikTok on its transparency report found that 444,705 accounts were banned for child sexual exploitation and abuse from January to June 2024.
It added that 742,724 pieces of content were reported to the United States-based National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The report did not elaborate on data from the Philippines.
Arancillo said that if Filipinos fall victim to cybercrime from users outside the Philippines, it would coordinate with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to investigate.
Beware
PNP ACG reminded the public to be cautious on TikTok to avoid falling victim to cybercrime.
Last November, the Social Weather Stations noted a ”new record high” of 7.2 percent of Filipino families experiencing cybercrime.
“Let us be careful in our online transactions on TikTok, especially if we order on their online selling sites. Talk to the sellers. Get to know them before sending money,” Arancillo said.