Maria Ressa

Filipino-American journalist combating disinformation through investigative reporting

Maria Ressa, co-founder of Rappler, revolutionized digital journalism in the Philippines by exposing government corruption and Duterte's drug war abuses. Born in 1963, she leveraged her experience as a CNN reporter to create a platform combining technology and investigative rigor.

Ressa's groundbreaking work made her the first Filipino Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 2021. She pioneered crowdsourced fact-checking and exposed state-sponsored troll armies. Despite facing 10 arrest warrants and cyberattacks, she continued reporting, as documented in her book 'How to Stand Up to a Dictator'.

Her use of AI tools to track disinformation networks set a global precedent. Rappler's 2020 exposé on COVID-19 misinformation influenced WHO policies. Ressa's fusion of tech and journalism redefined press freedom battles in the digital age, proving that individual courage can challenge authoritarian tech manipulation.