Rappler: Philippines orders shutdown of Maria Ressa's critical news site

30/6/2022 6:21

        Philippines authorities have again ordered the shutdown of an investigative news site founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa.
        Rappler is one of the few Philippines media outlets critical of President Rodrigo Duterte's government.
        The regulator's ruling comes just before Duterte leaves office and is succeeded by his ally Ferdinand Marcos Jr. who won election in May.
        Rappler said it wouldn't be closing and would challenge the order in court.
        "We will continue to work and to do business as usual," Ms Ressa told reporters on Wednesday. "We will follow the legal process and continue to stand up for our rights. We will hold the line."
        She said the ruling had come after highly irregular proceedings, and that the site couldn't count on rule of law any more.
        
        The Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement that a decision to revoke the company's licence to operate had been upheld following an appeal - because it and the courts had concluded that Rappler's funding model was unconstitutional.
        The regulator first issued an order against Rappler in 2018, invalidating the news organisation's credentials because, it said, the company had sold control of itself to a foreign entity in breach of foreign ownership restrictions in Philippines media.
        Rappler has been fighting the ruling ever since. It denies its US investor funding breaks the law.
        In 2015 Rappler received funding by the Omiydar network - a philanthropic investment company set up by Pierre Omiydar, the billionaire founder of Ebay - but denied it ceded foreign control. Three years later it donated the investment to Filipino staff of Rappler to prove it had no controlling stake in the business.