Arthur Fuentes

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A screenshot of the website that users trying to access microblogging site Tumblr are redirected to. 

Jonathan Frederic De Santos

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1773292266318Screenshot 2026-03-12 at 12.40.42 PM.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A screenshot of the website that users trying to access microblogging site Tumblr are redirected to. </span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center said it is investigating how access to the microblogging platform Tumblr seems to have been blocked for some users as part of a government drive against illegal online gambling.</p><p>The San Francisco-headquartered social media acknowledged the ban on Thursday, saying on X that it is &quot;aware of the issue and working to resolve it.&quot;</p><p>CICC, in a statement on Wednesday, said it is &quot;investigating the series of reports raised by concerned citizens online regarding the alleged blocking&quot; without acknowledging that users were being sent to what looks like a CICC website.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/2/26/telegram-under-observation-by-dict-cicc-1025"><strong>Telegram &#x27;under observation&#x27; by DICT, CICC<br/></strong></a></div><p>A visit to Tumblr redirects some users to &quot;blocked.sbmd.cicc.gov.ph&quot;, which says the site, which has been in operation as a microblogging platform since 2006, &quot;is not licensed by Philippine authorities.&quot;</p><p>The page matches the domain that the CICC uses, and the center has not said that the block page is fake.</p><div><br/></div><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display:flex;max-width:550px;width:100%;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px"><iframe id="twitter-widget-0" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" style="position:static;visibility:visible;width:514px;height:718px;display:block;flex-grow:1" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=2031832738169307277&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com%2F%23%2Fworkspace%2Fmonitoring%3Fitem%3Durn%3Anewsml%3Aod2-workbench-api.abs-cbn.com%3A2026-03-12T04%3A41%3A33.235497%3Af635ef3b-ec55-43b7-a971-0d164cbcb7f7%26action%3Dedit&amp;sessionId=cac95aa40ef736c9b37075322bc03609fafd0330&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&amp;width=550px" data-tweet-id="2031832738169307277"></iframe></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8"></script><div><br/></div><p>The redirect site also said &quot;unlicensed gambling sites offer no government protection. Any money you lose cannot be returned, and your personal data may be at risk&quot; before recommending links to licensed gambling sites where users can instead place their bets.</p><p>The Tumblr website, however, seemed to also be working normally for other users.</p><p>The incident comes after CICC and its mother agency, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, raised the possibility of blocking access to encrypted messaging apps Telegram and Signal.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/2/15/privacy-leaves-the-chat-cicc-proposal-to-block-signal-raises-red-flags-2230"><strong>Privacy leaves the chat: CICC proposal to block Signal raises red flags</strong><br/></a></div><div><strong>ARBITRARY BLOCKING</strong></div><p>Digital rights advocates like Democracy.Net.PH have long raised the alarm over the government&#x27;s arbitrary blocking of access to websites and apps.</p><p>Citing the Supreme Court decision on the Cybercrime Prevention Act, Democracy.Net.PH director for rights Carlos Nazareno told ABS-CBN News in February that &quot;entities like DICT first need to secure a court order&quot; before blocking access to internet services.</p><p>The group has warned that bypassing this requirement for &quot;bad&quot; sites like those that host pornography or unlicensed gambling will make it easier for the government to do the same for benign ones like private websites and news portals.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/11/26/court-rules-ntc-blocking-of-bulatlat-other-sites-violates-free-speech-1936"><strong>Court rules NTC blocking of Bulatlat, other sites violates free speech</strong></a></div>

<p>A visit to Tumblr redirects users to "blocked.sbmd.cicc.gov.ph", which says the site, which has been in operation as a microblogging platform since 2006, "is not licensed by Philippine authorities."</p>

A visit to Tumblr redirects users to "blocked.sbmd.cicc.gov.ph", which says the site, which has been in operation as a microblogging platform since 2006, "is not licensed by Philippine authorities."

Some Tumblr users redirected as site tagged for 'illegal gambling'; CICC says investigating

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Some Tumblr users redirected as site tagged for 'illegal gambling'; CICC says investigating

Jonathan de Santos,

ABS-CBN News

Published March 12, 2026 02:12 PM PHT

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