PLDT Inc. through its PLDT Home unit has teamed up with Google to strengthen their efforts in online safety and digital responsibility.
PLDT said the partnership with Google for Be Internet Awesome is aligned with its broader sustainability initiative to embed data privacy, cyber security and child online protection into its products and services.
Aimed at making the internet safer for Filipino children, the partnership underpins the PLDT Group’s commitment to customer-centricity and doing business responsibly.
“This collaboration reinforces our child protection advocacies and responsibility to keep online spaces safe for all. As we strengthen customer-centricity, we not only find ways to simplify technology and elevate the quality of experience for customers of all ages, but also strive to put their safety and well-being in the way we design and develop our products and services,” said Alfredo Panlilio, PLDT and Smart Communications Inc. president and chief executive officer.
“Through PLDT and more potential partners in the future, we hope to scale Be Internet Awesome and provide more families with a practical way of teaching digital safety and wellness to their children so they can become responsible, confident explorers of the online world,” said Bernadette Nacario, Google Philippines country director.
Google’s Be Internet Awesome program provides modules, online games and other materials that teachers, parents and guardians can use to educate kids about digital citizenship and literacy.
These learning materials were piloted in more than 20 schools last year. From the initial reach of over 2,000 students, Google and the Department of Education had engaged over 12,000 students from grades four to eight across Metro Manila and nearby areas towards the end of 2021.
PLDT, for its part, said it has institutionalized a pioneering Child Safeguarding Policy that applies to its entire workforce and extends to its engagement with customers, communities, business partners and others.
PLDT has also invested over P2 billion in its cybersecurity defenses, under which the telco has deployed a Child Protection Platform which detects and prevents domain and content-level access to child sexual abuse materials within its network.
