Rappler (

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words is a Filipino online news website based in

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. It was founded by

2021 Nobel Peace Prize The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo on 8 October 2021. Maria Ressa (b. 1963) and Dmitry Muratov (b. 1961) received the prize "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondit ...

laureate Maria Ressa along with a group of fellow Filipino journalists as well as technopreneurs. It started as a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

page named MovePH in August 2011 and evolved into a website on January 1, 2012. In 2018, agencies under the Philippine government initiated legal proceedings against Rappler. Rappler and its staff alleged it was being targeted for its revelations of corruption by government and elected officials, the usage of bots and trolls favoring

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson ...

's administration, and documenting the Philippine drug war. In October 2021, Rappler co-founder Ressa, alongside Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, was awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

for safeguarding freedom of expression in their homelands.

History

With the idea of professional journalists using social media and crowd sourcing for news distribution, Rappler was started in 2011 by Filipino journalist Maria Ressa along with her entrepreneur and journalist friends. Brainstorming for the company began some time in 2010 when Maria Ressa was writing her second book, ''From Bin Laden to Facebook''. Other key people involved in its conceptualization and creation were former '' Newsbreak'' head and

ABS-CBN News Channel ABS-CBN News Channel, commonly known as ANC, is a 24/7 Philippine pay television news channel. It was launched in 1996 as the first all-news network in English language. The majority of its programs are produced by ABS-CBN News. The channel is ...

managing editor Glenda Gloria, journalist and Ateneo De Manila University professor Chay Hofileña, former '' TV Patrol'' executive producer Lilibeth Frondoso, Philippine Internet pioneer Nix Nolledo, Internet entrepreneur Manuel I. Ayala, and former NBC Universal Global Networks Asia-Pacific managing director Raymund Miranda. Rappler first went public as a beta version website on January 1, 2012, the same day that the ''

Philippine Daily Inquirer The ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI''), or simply the ''Inquirer'', is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded br ...

'' published a Rappler piece that broke the story of (then) Philippine Chief Justice Renato Corona being awarded a

University of Santo Tomas The University of Santo Tomas (also known as UST and officially as the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, Manila) is a private, Catholic research university in Manila, Philippines. Founded on April 28, 1611, by Spanish friar Migue ...

doctoral degree without a required dissertation. The site officially launched at its #MoveManila event at the Far Eastern University in Manila on January 12, 2012.

Coverage of fake news campaigns in the Philippines

In 2016, Rappler began to be critical of the

Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperso ...

-led government of the Philippines, which had just taken office in 2016, and its controversial

war on drugs The war on drugs is a global campaign, led by the United States federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, and military intervention, with the aim of reducing the illegal drug trade in the United States.Cockburn and St. Clair, 1 ...

after Rappler noticed a network of paid followers and dummy accounts on

spreading fake news related to Duterte. On January 11, 2018, the

Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

revoked Rappler's license to operate as a "mass media" entity, for allegedly violating the Constitution's Foreign Equity Restrictions in Mass Media by being wholly foreign-owned. Rappler then sought a petition for review from the

Court of Appeals A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much ...

on January 28, but was rejected on July 26, 2018, finding no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the SEC. Many journalistic organizations and committees saw the act as intimidation meant to silence opposition and control freedom of the press. On October 26, 2017, Rappler became a member of the

Poynter Institute The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netw ...

's International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). This led to Facebook tapping Rappler and Vera Files in April 2018 to be its Philippine partners on its worldwide fact-checking program, in part because of their participation in the IFCN. Under the program, false news stories will appear lower on users' news feeds and lower the chances of people seeing those stories. The program, according to a Facebook executive, "is one of the ways we hope to better identify and reduce the reach of false news that people share on our platform." A spokesperson for the Philippine government backed the fact-checking program but protested Facebook's partnership with Rappler.

Shutdown order by the Securities and Exchange Commission

On June 29, 2022, Maria Ressa released a statement stating that the Philippine government has ordered that Rappler be shut down. The shutdown order came right as the former President Rodrigo Duterte was set to leave office. The

stated that it decided to uphold the shut down order due to the findings of its own investigation and that of the courts finding Rappler's funding model to be unconstitutional. Ressa commented on the ruling and called them "intimidation tactics". She also stated that they will continue to exhaust all legal remedies to fight the ruling. She also noted that Rappler will continue to operate due to the order only being executory on approval of a court.

"This is intimidation. These are political tactics. We refuse to succumb to them. We're not going to voluntarily give up our rights. And we really shouldn't. I continue to appeal for that because when you give up your rights, you're never going to get them back." – Maria Ressa

Notable features

Mood Meter feature

"Mood Meter" is a

web widget A web widget is a web page or web application that is embedded as an element of a host web page but which is substantially independent of the host page, having limited or no interaction with the host. A web widget commonly provides users of the ...

embedded on each of Rappler's blogs and articles. It appears as colored bubbles showing the way people react to Rappler's stories. Readers are prompted to choose their response from eight different emotional reactions. The ten stories that received the most reactions in the last 48-hour period would appear on the Mood Navigator. The Rappler Mood Meter, which is similar to Facebook Reactions, won the Bronze Medal for Brand Experience at the 2012 Boomerang Awards sponsored by the Internet Media Marketing Association of the Philippines.

Lighthouse platform

In 2020, Rappler launched its new content delivery and community engagement platform with several features such as WCAG 2.0 AA compliance, content moderation through topics, live blogs, and premium subscriptions. Rappler also allows private use of its new software platform for other organizations.

Rappler+

Rappler+ is an exclusive membership program of Rappler launched in 2019. Aside from weekly newsletters, members get access to investigative reports, research data, industry reports, and e-books produced by the digital media and investigative journalism firm.

Agos

Agos is a crowdsourcing platform focused on disaster risk reduction and mitigation using digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and social media.

Legal issues

Many legal cases have been filed by various government agencies against Rappler since 2017; these cases are collectively considered by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' and

Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...

as "judicial harassment." Among other cases are cases alleging ownership irregularities and tax evasion. Both Ressa and

Chel Diokno Jose Manuel Tadeo "Chel" Icasiano Diokno (, born February 23, 1961) is a Filipino lawyer, educator, and human rights advocate. He serves as chairman of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), the founding dean of the De La Salle University Colle ...

, a human rights attorney who represents Rappler, connects a statement made by President

regarding Rappler's ownership during his 2017 State of the Nation Address to the outpour of legal cases against Rappler from all areas of the executive branch. If all of the cases filed against Ressa related to her management of Rappler up to June 18, 2020, were to result in guilty verdicts after final appeal, and the sentences were all to run consecutively, she would face around 100 years in prison.

Revocation of certificate of incorporation

On January 11, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines (SEC) revoked Rappler's certificate of incorporation over Rappler's use of Philippine Depository Receipts (PDRs). It said that the provisions of the PDR issued to

Omidyar Network Omidyar Network is a self-styled " philanthropic investment firm," composed of a foundation and an impact investment firm. Established in 2004 by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and his wife Pam, Omidyar Network has committed over $1.5billion to ...

by Rappler gave the American investment firm control over the local media firms' other PDR holders as well as its corporate policies, which the SEC says is a violation of the Constitution's provisions on foreign ownership and control. Rappler claimed that it was 100% Filipino owned and that Omidyar only invests in the media firm. Despite the certificate revocation, SEC stated that Rappler could still operate since their decision was not final, pointing out that the media firm could also challenge the decision before the Court of Appeals within 15 days. Malacañang Palace also suggested that Rappler authors can still continue to publish on their website as bloggers. On February 28, Omidyar Network donated its Rappler PDRs to the editors and executives of Rappler. Rappler alleged that the revocation of Rappler's certificate was an attack against the

freedom of the press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

. The

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) is a Filipino non-governmental trade association that represents the interests of Filipino journalists. Among its leadership are representatives from ABS-CBN, DZMM, GMA, the ''Phili ...

(NUJP), Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) and the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) said the SEC ruling is part of a pattern of restricting criticism. The National Press Club of the Philippines, on the other hand, supported the SEC decision. Other groups such as the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility also expressed concerns about the revocation and press freedom in the country in general. Members of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives, mostly from the opposition, issued statements of concern, describing the SEC revocation of Rappler's license as "a loss for dissenting voices and free speech", "pure harassment" and "straight out of the dictator's playbook", and an "affront on press freedom." Law advocacy group CenterLaw said the move was unconstitutional since the SEC denied Rappler due process. It also said the SEC's action was "tantamount to prior restraint" of "a known critic of the government's drug war." The Philippine government denied the claim, pointing out that President

could have used the armed forces to implement Rappler's closure, as done by various foreign governments, but did not. The chief presidential legal counsel defended the SEC, saying the SEC's job was simply to punish violators of the law. On March 8, 2018, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) filed criminal and tax evasion charges against Rappler Holdings Corp. before the Department of Justice (DoJ) for allegedly evading in taxes. Rappler's petition for review regarding the SEC's decision was subsequently rejected by the

on July 26, 2018, finding no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the SEC. On June 29, 2022, Ressa released a statement during an international conference affirming that the SEC had upheld its earlier ruling to revoke Rappler's operating license. Ressa also stated that Rappler will file an appeal due to "proceedings that were highly irregular" in the SEC's decision.

Cyberlibel

The National Bureau of Investigation of the Philippines subpoenaed Ressa and a former Rappler reporter on January 18, 2018, in connection with an online libel complaint filed by private entrepreneur Wilfredo Keng. The complaint was for a 2012 article that reported that then Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona had been using a luxury vehicle owned by Keng. The report also claimed that Keng was involved in human trafficking. On March 8, 2018, the National Bureau of Investigation lodged before the Department of Justice (DoJ) a cyber libel complaint against Rappler and its officers ( Maria Ressa, former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. who wrote the story, and directors and officers Manuel Ayala, Nico Jose Nolledo, Glenda Gloria, James Bitanga, Felicia Atienza, Dan Albert de Padua and Jose Maria G. Hofilena) in connection with a news article published in 2012 wherein citing in the complaint stated that “Unlike published materials on print, defamatory statements online, such as those contained in the libelous article written and published by subjects, rendubitably considered as a continuing crime until and unless the libelous article is actually removed or taken down. Otherwise, the same is a continuing violation of Section 4 (c) (4) of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012”. Ressa was arrested on February 13, 2019, and spent a night in jail before being able to bail herself out. The arrest was criticized by opposition and journalist groups, seeing the arrest as being politically motivated. The trial began on July 23, 2019. Ressa and Reynaldo Santos, Jr. were convicted of cyberlibel by Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 46 on June 15, 2020, and sentenced to a maximum of six years in jail, along with being ordered to pay fines of each. Human rights and media freedom advocates have characterized the court decision as a blow to

and democracy. After the verdict, Keng sued Ressa again for a different count of cyberlibel, this time over a tweet she wrote on February 15, 2019, which contained a screenshot of the 2002 ''Philippine Star'' article discussed in. Keng stated that by republishing the article " essa feloniously communicated the malicious imputations against me not only to her 350,000 Twitter followers, but to anyone who has access to the internet." Keng later withdrew the cyberlibel complaint after reportedly losing interest in the case. On July 8, 2022, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 upheld the cyberlibel conviction of Ressa and Santos, sentencing them to serve a minimum of 6 months and 1 day to a maximum of 6 years, eight months and 20 days in jail.

Tax cases

On December 3, 2018, an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a ...

for Rappler's founder Maria Ressa was sent to the

police station, for alleged omissions in the VAT ( value added tax) filings of Rappler, in connection with ''People of the Philippines v. Rappler Holdings Corp. and Maria Ressa'' (R-PSG-18-02983-CR). However, her arraignment in this case was suspended as she filed a

motion to quash A motion to quash is a request to a court or other tribunal to render a previous decision or proceeding null or invalid. The exact usage of motions to quash depend on the rules of the particular court or tribunal. In some cases, motions to quash ...

the

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random, ...

, and she was not arrested in connection with this warrant, as she posted bail in the amount of the same day. As of January 2020, the case remains suspended, as the Pasig has still not ruled on the motion. On March 29, 2019, Ressa was arrested again upon her arrival at

Ninoy Aquino International Airport Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA , ; fil, Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Ninoy Aquino or ''Pandaigdigang Paliparan ng Ninoy Aquino''; ), originally known and still commonly referred to as Manila International Airport (MIA), is the main ...

from an overseas trip. The arrest warrant was issued by the Pasig Branch 265 against Ressa in connection with yet another case she and members of Rappler's 2016 board are facing, this time for alleged violations of the Anti-Dummy Law ( C.A. No. 108). Ressa posted bail in the amount of the same day.

Ownership structure

As of 2017, Rappler is owned primarily by Rappler Holdings Corporation, which is in turn owned by Dolphin Fire Group (31.2%), Maria Ressa (23.8%), Hatchd Group (17.9%), Benjamin So (17.9%), and 9.3 percent of minority shares. Rappler originally drew in funds through the issuance of Philippine Depository Receipts (PDR), which allowed foreign firms

and North Base Media to invest in Rappler. On February 28, 2018, Omidyar Network donated its Rappler PDRs to the editors and executives of Rappler. The 2020 revenue of Rappler is broken down as follows: * Consultancies (43%) * Direct advertising (22%) * Grants (15%), detailed below * Programmatic advertising (9%) * Others (3%) Rappler receives grants for fact-checking, related research and initiatives to address online

disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the ...

from organizations including: *

as part of the Third Party Fact-Checker Program * National Endowment for Democracy *

Friedrich Naumann Foundation The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (german: Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit) (''FNF''), is a German foundation for liberal politics, related to the Free Democratic Party. Established in 1958 by Theodor Heuss, the first pre ...

* Internews * Meedan *

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

News Initiative

Controversies and criticisms

* In 2021, Rappler drew controversy and was criticized by Filipino netizens for the tone of its headline on the death of

Eli Soriano Eliseo "Eli" Fernando Soriano (; April 4, 1947 – February 10, 2021) was a Filipino preacher and televangelist. He was the "Overall Servant" (Tagalog: ''Lingkod Pangkalahatan,'' formerly called "Presiding Minister") of the Members Church of G ...

. * In 2013, DZIQ radio journalist Erwin Aguilon accused Rappler of plagiarising his photo. Rappler later apologized.

References

External links

*
Media Ownership Monitor Philippines Online
by Vera Files and

{{authority control 2011 establishments in the Philippines Internet properties established in 2012 Philippine news websites Online companies of the Philippines English-language websites Companies based in Pasig