Philippines: Senate Questions Meta’s Absence from Key Online Gambling Investigation

The Senate Committee on Games and Amusement on Tuesday issued a show-cause order to Meta-Facebook Philippines over its no-show at the continuation of a legislative inquiry into online gambling.

In a letter addressed to panel chairman Senator Erwin Tulfo, Facebook Philippines representative Genixon David said their experts won’t be able attend the public hearing on September 16, 2025 and proposed instead a meeting on a schedule suitable for both parties.

This did not sit well with Tulfo as he explained the importance of discussing this issue with Facebook representatives following the shift of some online betting and gambling sites from e-wallet applications to various social media platforms.

“No. Why are they dictating this committee when they will attend? If they need to be subpoenaed, we will subpoena their country representative. That’s not an excuse,” the senator said, expressing his disappointment.

Senator Risa Hontiveros agreed with Tulfo and formally moved for the issuance of a show-cause order against the representatives of Meta, which owns and operates social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads.

“That’s what we’re going to do, to issue a show-cause order why they should not be subpoenaed for not attending and for not complying with our request to attend,” Tulfo said.

“This is a hearing. We have a problem here and this is a national problem. This is not limited to Metro Manila. Imagine, there’s like 65% of Filipinos who are hooked on online gambling and that’s what we’re trying to find a solution right now,” he added.

During the hearing, Ronald Gustilo, national campaigner of Digital Pinoys civic group, revealed before the committee that there are back-up links of illegal online gambling sites being posted on Facebook groups and other messaging applications like Telegram and Signal.