THE National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has directed the country’s major telecommunication firms to deactivate clickable Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), links, and quick response (QR) codes in text messages amid the proliferation of spam and phishing text messages.NTC commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba signed the memorandum instructing Globe Telecom, Dito Telecommunity and Smart Communications to deactivate domains from fraudulent and malicious sites usually contained in the text scams.The agency said these sites should be based on the existing database obtained from government offices such as the NTC, National Privacy Commission, Department of Trade and Industry, law enforcement agencies, subscriber reports, and those generated from machine learning or artificial intelligence.The telco firms were required to submit their written compliance reports to the NTC by September 16.The public is continuously expressing concerns over the proliferation of text scams, in which some contain the name or other personal information about the owner.The Senate earlier launched an investigation on the matter to find ways to stop these illegal activities, which put the consumers’ right to privacy and security at risk. (SunStar Philippines)