On March 8, the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) released an analysis of big data on online violence against journalists, focusing on the case of Rappler president and CEO Maria Ressa. (READ: Maria Ressa: Fighting an Onslaught of Online Violence)
The case study, in collaboration with the University of Sheffield and Rappler, analyzes hundreds of thousands of Twitter and Facebook posts directed at Ressa from 2016, when President Rodrigo Duterte took power, to 2021.
“The goal is to pound you to silence, right? So, at the beginning, they were all messages about corruption. ‘Barayan! Bayaran! (You’re a paid hack!) You are corrupt! You’re paid to do this!,’” Ressa says.
The study finds that almost six in every 10 attacks against Ressa on Facebook and Twitter were designed to undermine her credibility, mostly done by associating Ressa and her work with the terms “lies” and “fake news.”
Over four in every 10 of the attacks against Ressa from both platforms targeted her “at the personal level – often viscerally.”
“Maria really does sit at the intersection of viral disinformation – what we might call networked misogyny – and also press freedom erosion in a country run by a populist strongman leader,” says Julie Posetti, global director of research at the ICFJ.
Watch the special report “Maria Ressa: Pushing back against online violence” on Tuesday, March 23, at 8 pm on this page and on Rappler’s Youtube channel. – Rappler.com
READ: State-led and coordinated: ICFJ dives into online attacks vs Maria Ressa
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