The Philippines ranked number in the world in terms of digital illiteracy, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) disclosed on Tuesday.

During the Senate panel deliberations on the proposed 2024 budget of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Senators asked the agency executives if there was truth to the reports stating that the country ranks number one in digital illiteracy.

DICT Undersecretary for Connectivity, Cybersecurity, and Upskilling Jeffrey Ian Dy clarified that the report from the United Nations (UN) is indeed true, but it was in 2019.

"It is an accurate report from the United Nations, but let me qualify that the last time that they asked for that report was [in] 2019," he said.

However, Dy said that the information is currently "being updated" and that he is "particularly confident" that the nation's intermediate or average level of ICT literacy has increased.

According to theDICT Undersecretary, many Filipinos are proficient mobile phone users who know how to use TikTok or Facebook, but they are unable to use an operating system.

The UN describes basic ICT literacy as the ability to use a particular operating system.

On the other hand, intermediate skills necessitate familiarity with worksheets and presentation software.

Based on the Digital 2019 report, the Philippines was named as the world’s heaviest internet user where Filipinos are spending an average of 10 hours and two minutes a day online in 2018.

Meanwhile in 2020, the country also ranked first in terms of spending the most amount of time on social media, according to a report from online marketplace OnBuy.com