The Philippine cybercrime agency has temporarily banned a gaming app after initial police investigations showed that one of the two students allegedly involved in a school shooting was an avid player.
"We are blocking (the gaming app) temporarily as a precautionary measure pending the investigation,” Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center Undersecretary Renato Paraiso said in a statement on June 23. "We cannot ignore possible online influences that may have contributed to this tragic incident.”
Three students were killed and 20 others injured in a rare school shooting in the Philippines on June 22 when two students, aged 14 and 15, allegedly opened fire at their school in Tacloban City in the central Visayas region, southeast of the capital Manila. The two suspects used handguns, authorities said.
Police earlier said that one of the students regularly played the video game, according to the statement. The maker of the video game didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ban highlights growing scrutiny of children’s online activity across Asia-Pacific following concerns about cyberbullying, harmful content and excessive screen use. Indonesia in March began enforcing restrictions on social media and gaming accounts for users under 16, while Malaysia now requires age verification for social media users and Australia last year enacted a ban on social media access for children under 16.
The gaming app allows players to experiment with various weapons and is known for its graphic depictions of violence, according to the CICC. "(The game) advertises itself as ‘a physics-driven sandbox game where creativity meets unrestrained destruction,’” the statement said.
The CICC said the attack highlights the need for greater vigilance in the digital space and that it had intensified surveillance of online activities as authorities investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting. – Bloomberg
