The Philippines has enacted a temporary block on the gaming app Gorebox following it being linked to a teenage suspect in a school shooting. Two suspects are currently being detained after three students were killed and twenty more individuals were wounded at a school in Tacloban, located to the south east of Manila.
As per the BBC, one of the alleged shooters, a 14-year-old, was a player of Gorebox, an app where players are allowed to "engage in brutal combat with an extensive arsenal of weapons and explosives."
The Philippines' cyber-security agency said that the blocking is necessary to "allow authorities to conduct a thorough assessment into whether the platform played any role in the actions of the suspects."
Scientific studies have not found a link between violent video games and violent behaviour. The maker of Gorebox, German studio F2Games, has not yet commented on the incident. This is a rare case for the Philippines, were mass shootings are uncommon compared to other territories. It's believed the attack on the school was planned, and the 15-year-old suspect has been charged with murder, while the 14-year-old is too young to be charged under Philippine law.
