Republic Act No. 11930 is the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials Act. It establishes the modern Philippine framework for OSAEC and CSAEM, repealing RA 9775 and addressing grooming, luring, livestreamed abuse, sexual extortion, image-based sexual abuse, possession, access, distribution, platforms, payments, and preservation.
Quick answer
RA 11930 protects children from sexual abuse or exploitation conducted online, offline with an online component, or through materials produced or distributed using technology. A child’s apparent consent does not legalize exploitation. The law also reaches certain computer-generated, digitally created, or manually crafted depictions of a person represented as a child.
Key concepts
| Term | Meaning in practice |
|---|---|
| OSAEC | Use of ICT to sexually abuse or exploit children, including online components of offline abuse |
| CSAEM/CSAM | Visual, video, audio, written, or combined representations of a child in real or simulated sexual activity or sexualized depiction |
| Grooming | Building trust or an emotional connection with a child or caregiver for sexual abuse, exploitation, or production of material |
| Luring | Communicating through a computer system with a child, or believed child, to facilitate sexual activity or material production |
| Image-based sexual abuse | Nonconsensual creation, distribution, or threatened distribution of nude or sexual images, including specified deepfake and sextortion conduct |
Who is considered a child?
The definition principally covers a person below eighteen, as well as certain older persons unable to protect themselves because of disability or condition. For the Act’s material-related provisions, it also addresses persons presented or made to appear as children and specified synthetic or crafted imagery.
Prohibited activities
The Act contains multiple offenses that must not be collapsed into one label. They include producing, participating in, facilitating, transmitting, distributing, publishing, selling, possessing, or knowingly accessing CSAEM; grooming and luring; livestreaming abuse; sexual extortion; pandering; willful access to prohibited material; and defined involvement by intermediaries or other participants.
Duties of internet intermediaries and institutions
The law recognizes internet service providers, hosting providers, registrars, search services, e-commerce intermediaries, payment providers, and participative platforms. Their obligations can include reporting, preservation, blocking or takedown cooperation, policies, records, and assistance to competent authorities, subject to the specific statutory trigger and implementing rules.
What parents and victims should do
- Prioritize the child’s immediate physical and emotional safety.
- Do not publicly repost or repeatedly forward suspected material.
- Preserve usernames, URLs, dates, transaction records, threats, and platform correspondence without unnecessarily duplicating illegal content.
- Report through competent law-enforcement and child-protection channels.
- Seek trauma-informed legal, medical, psychological, and social-welfare support.
For urgent reporting routes, use Cybercode’s cybercrime reporting directory. For threatened intimate-image distribution, see the sextortion guide.
Evidence and privacy
Evidence handling must protect the child. Preserve identifying data, complete conversations, payment trails, account identifiers, reports, and chain-of-custody information. Avoid downloading, copying, or circulating suspected CSAEM beyond what authorized professionals specifically require.
Relationship with other laws
Depending on the conduct, RA 11930 can intersect with the Cybercrime Prevention Act, RA 9995, the Data Privacy Act, anti-trafficking legislation, and penal laws. Each possible charge requires separate element-by-element analysis.
Frequently asked questions
Did RA 11930 replace RA 9775?
Yes. RA 11930 expressly repealed the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 and introduced the OSAEC and CSAEM framework.
Can a child legally consent to exploitation?
No. Apparent consent does not remove the statutory protection or legalize covered exploitation.
Does the law cover grooming before physical contact?
Yes. Grooming and luring are expressly addressed and do not require completed physical abuse before legal concern arises.
Can synthetic images be covered?
The Act’s child definition and material provisions expressly address specified computer-generated and crafted depictions.
Privacy issues that are not OSAEC
A public profile, excessive child-data collection, weak privacy notice or unwanted recommendation is not automatically online sexual abuse or exploitation. For those issues, use the children’s personal data and app privacy guide; use the OSAEC route when the facts involve sexual abuse, exploitation, grooming, sexual extortion or abuse material.
Primary source
Read the official text of Republic Act No. 11930.
Related legislation includes the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act and the Safe Spaces Act.
This article provides general legal information, not legal advice. Liability and remedies depend on the statutory elements, evidence, and current implementing rules.