SEN. Robin Padilla wants to expand the “limited” powers of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board so it can prevent inappropriate contents from being streamlined on TikTok, YouTube, and other “new media” platforms.
Padilla, committee on mass media and public information chairman, made the pitch as the Senate finance committee was briefed Tuesday on the proposed budget of the MTRCB for next year.
Padilla said the abuse in streamlining inappropriate contents on social media platforms must be stopped but later learned the MTRCB has limited powers in acting against those kinds of contents.
“I am concerned. Is there no law on this yet? We must thus craft a bill on this, keeping in mind its legality under the Constitution,” Padilla said in Filipino.
He asked MTRCB chairperson Diorella Maria “Lala” Sotto-Antonio the scope of the board’s powers and she replied it is not within the agency’s powers to stop or take down inappropriate contents on social media platforms.
Sotto-Antonio explained that the agency’s powers are limited by PD 1986, signed into law in the 1980s that currently covers only contents on television, including radio programs, that are also shown on TV.
She added the MTRCB has no jurisdiction over “straight news” without “public affairs” contents.
Sotto-Antonio said the MTRCB has no jurisdiction on streaming platforms such as TikTok and YouTube, adding the agency has only coordinated with Netflix and Amazon Prime, which have their own parental controls. She said the two companies have been cooperative in acting on questionable contents.
Sen. Grace Poe, a former MTRCB chairperson, said they would like to invite the representatives of TikTok and YouTube “so we can draft together something that will not make it more stringent but will allow evaluation of what they are showing here.”
Padilla said his committee will schedule an inquiry and invite representatives of streaming platforms and the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas so they can share their inputs in crafting the proposed measure.
