The Government of the Philippines warned that the social media network Red Red will face criminal charges for promoting illegal gambling and posting websites in the country. At a press conference held on Wednesday, the Philippine Cyber Crime Investigation and Coordination Centre (ICC) indicated that they were conducting a nationwide campaign in coordination with the Philippine National Police Anti-Cyber Crime Unit (PNP-ACG), the Philippine Recreation and Lottery Corporation (PAGCOR) and the advocacy organization Digital Pinoys.
The CICC Executive Director and Minister, Aboi Paraíso, confirmed that intelligence reports on illegal gaming websites, mobile applications and their promoters were officially forwarded to the police for investigation and prosecution. He said: “These will be strong evidence of our prosecution of the Internet-based reds that promote unregulated gaming sites indiscriminately.” Under the joint law enforcement framework, illegal operators and promoters may be prosecuted under the Cybercrime Prevention Act 2012 and other criminal offences. The police indicated that other charges might include organized fraud and, if necessary, referred the case to the Financial Investigation Agency and the Anti-Money Laundering Department. The Philippine authorities disclosed that between January and 1 March 2026 alone, the ICC Operations Centre recorded 1891 complaints concerning illegal Internet gaming platforms. Aboi Paraíso warned: “This is worrying. So I appeal to you to be extremely careful on the Internet. Every time you refresh Facebook or TikTok, there’s a red net that tries to lure you in.”
He emphasizes that the above findings are based on the documentation and verification conducted by the CICC Hazard Control Centre in cooperation with Digital Pinoys and not on unsubstantiated complaints. Digital Pinoys national campaigner Ronald Gustavo indicated that a request for the removal of the account and home page promoting illegal lottery had been submitted to Meta. Although the platform ban could be appealed against, he noted that the accounts that had not been blocked as a result of illegal lottery promotion had been restored. Aboi Paraíso also highlighted the coordination between the ICC and GCash, the financial science and technology platform, in order to cut off the payment channels associated with illegal lottery operations. “We are proud to share our success with GCash. More than 3,000 related illegal online businesses have been shut down and permanently shut down as a result of their combined enhanced surveillance and zero-tolerance policy on financial technology super-applications.”
In addition, Ronald Gustavo indicated that the Digital Pinoys testing tool marked 3,700 illegal lottery sites only four days before March. The Senior Vice-President of the Security and Monitoring Cluster of PAGCOR, Raúl Vilanueva, urged the public to verify whether the online platform held a licence plate by looking at the official website of the regulator. Raúl Vilanueva said: “We will monitor legitimate platforms to ensure their compliance.” He warned that illegal online websites were often for fraudulent purposes, closing winning accounts and preventing users from making cash. In contrast, the licensed Chamber of Commerce is strictly regulated by PAGCOR.