Maria Ressa chronicles her career as a journalist in the Philippines, tracing the shift from traditional news broadcasting to the weaponization of social media under Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. She details how Facebook’s algorithms created a feedback loop that prioritized anger over facts, enabling the spread of state-sponsored disinformation and online violence. Ressa outlines the legal harassment she faced as the head of Rappler, describing the specific court cases and arrests used to silence her reporting on extrajudicial killings and government corruption.
This book is intended for observers of global politics and digital media who want to understand the structural link between social media architecture and the rise of authoritarianism. Readers see how digital platforms facilitate the erosion of democratic institutions by dismantling a shared reality. They finish the text with a technical understanding of information warfare and a framework for protecting independent journalism against systemic state pressure and algorithmic manipulation.
- Published
- 2022
- Language
- EN
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