Google Philippines Public Policy and Government Relations Head Yves Gonzalez announces the launch of Enhanced Google Play Protect in the Philippines as the tech giant marked Safer Internet Day 2025. Benise Balaoing, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA -- Google said it has rules in place to help curb the spread of misinformation and disinformation in the 2025 elections.

Speaking at the sidelines of the Safer Internet Day celebration for 2025, Google Philippines Public Policy and Government Relations Head Yves Gonzalez said the community guidelines of video-sharing platform YouTube prohibits the spread of misinformation.

"I'll give you an example. Pag sinabi mo na patay na si Candidate X, so ' 'pag sabi mo 'Wag mo iboto si Candidate X, kasi patay na yan,' that's something that can be verified, and the moment mapakita na buhay pa si Candidate X, that's a violation of the community guidelines," he said.

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"But of course YouTube, as a free speech platform, there will always be mudslinging, disagreements, allegation and things like, there are those things. So as much as possible, YouTube will allow the free flow of discourse and discussion," he noted.

"It's only pag pumasok yung content doon sa level na violative na siya sa community guidelines that we will take it down," Gonzalez said.

The Google official also said that the tech firm is working with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on social media use for the elections.

"Si Comelec naglabas ng resolution on the use of (artificial intelligence), on social media. So pag si Comelec, nireport niya sa amin itong content, na si Candidate X, nagva-violate sa resolution namin, it was decided by the Comelec legal body, then we can also legally remove it from YouTube."

BLOCKING SCAM APPS

Google also announced that it is launching its Enhanced Play Protection in the Philippines. Enhanced Play Protection blocks the downloading of seemingly malicious apps from websites outside of Google Play. Gonzalez said the feature has so far blocked 3.2 million download attempts since it was piloted about 2 weeks ago.

"We're starting with financial scams. So, yun yung pinakafocus natin dito, that's a big problem," Gonzales said.

"Sa (Securities and Exchange Commission), sa (Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center), we all acknowledge that financial scams is a big and growing problem in the Philippines," he added.

"So iba-iba 'yan. Meron kang lending apps. Meron kang gaming apps. Yung mga parang sinabi nila, kunyari, whether it's a fake casino or parang real world casino kunyare," he noted.

"If each of these blocked installs resulted in just a single peso loss due to security breach, that's already P3.2 million saved, that's real money protected by Enhanced Play Protect," he stressed.

Beyond putting safety features in place, however, Google said it continues to educate Filipinos on how they can protect themselves online.

"Yesterday, we had a workshop with the political parties and with the candidates to teach them on how to secure their internet accounts, their Google accounts, on how how they can use YouTube effectively, and also how they can report on YouTube pag meron silang nakikitang content na nagva-violate sa community guidelines," he shared.

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He also noted that their Google Career Certificates program not only upskills Filipinos in terms of cybersecurity, but also gives them skills that help them better-paying jobs.

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"(We're) working closely with DICT, CICC, basically the cybersecurity government stakeholders. You know, we attend yung events nila, and then they also attend our events. We upskill government stakeholders."

"And, you know, we're really excited that, I think this year is a big year for cybersecurity in the Philippines," he said.