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Tomorrow’s tech policy conversations today

Maria Ressa, Executive Editor and CEO of Philippine news website Rappler, faces the media with former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr., and lawyer Ted Te, after being found guilty of cyber-libel, in Manila, Philippines, June 15, 2020. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
Maria Ressa, Executive Editor and CEO of Philippine news website Rappler, faces the media with former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr., and lawyer Ted Te, after being found guilty of cyber-libel, in Manila, Philippines, June 15, 2020. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
Maria Ressa, the executive Editor and CEO of Philippine news website Rappler, faces the media after being found guilty of cyberlibel, in Manila, Philippines, on June 15, 2020. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

Maria Ressa is a Filipino-American journalist and co-founder of Rappler, a news-site based in Manila that has distinguished itself for its investigative, adversarial coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration. The Philippine government has responded by persecuting Ressa in the courts, where she is currently fighting a conviction of “cyberlibel.” Here, she speaks with Lawfare‘s Evelyn Douek about the Philippine internet and its dynamics, which represent an important warning for the global web.