Senator Raffy Tulfo urged celebrities and social media influencers to think twice before promoting illegal online gambling platforms as the government intensifies its crackdown on these operations.
This as the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) warned influencers against engaging with unlicensed online gambling platforms.
CICC said about percent of top-tier content creators have already taken down gambling-related posts, but the rest have remained defiant.
“Perhaps for them, it is just work – nothing personal. But what they do not know is that illegal online gambling destroys a lot,” Tulfo said, noting that such endorsements could fuel gambling addiction, even among celebrities’ own followers or loved ones.
Tulfo, who previously chaired the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement, underscored the responsibility that comes with influence, noting that public figures can either uplift or endanger their communities with the content they put out.
To enhance compliance, the CICC is coordinating with major social media platforms to remove the accounts of persistent violators.
CICC Executive Director Renato Paraiso said influencers with at least one to two million followers earn as much as P500,000 weekly for promoting illegal gambling sites.
