Activist Maria Ressa On How We Can Stand Up To Dictators In The Disinformation Age
In October this year, Service95 partnered with Ubud Writers & Readers Festival in Bali to bring guests a series of events and conversations. The events featured some of the world’s most exciting authors and thinkers, sharing their expertise on topics from women’s rights in conflict to how to write a debut novel. One of the panels during the festival featured journalist and activist Maria Ressa. Afterwards, we caught up with Ressa to talk about her book, How To Stand Up To A Dictator…
Maria Ressa is an unstoppable force when it comes to speaking truth to power. The multi-award-winning Filipino American journalist and the co-founder and CEO of independent news organisation Rappler won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for her work to address state censorship and global disinformation in the Philippines.
Her book, How To Stand Up To A Dictator, was inspired by this decades-long fight against populist leaders who embrace disinformation to the detriment of democracy.
One such example was the election of populist leader Rodrigo Duterte as president of the Philippines in 2016. “Duterte was elected two years after social media became a key tool for information operations,” she says. “Facebook dominated the Philippines for six years in a row until 2021; Filipinos spent the most time online and on social media globally. In 2016, the political dominoes began to fall. Duterte was elected with the help of Facebook – then, about a month later, you had Brexit in the UK, and Donald Trump was elected in [the US] in November 2016.”
Here, she discusses the threat of social media algorithms, the urgent need for quality journalism, and her ongoing fight to stand up to leaders such as Duterte, who are destabilising democracy worldwide.
Service95: Your book is called How To Stand Up To A Dictator. There are so many examples of these types of leaders around the world today – where do we start?
Maria Ressa: “You go back to the values, right? It’s funny, because people ask me all the time, ‘What gave you courage?’ It isn’t about courage, because courage isn’t something you pluck out of the air. You have to draw the line of your values where you know on this side you’re good, and when you cross that line, you become evil.
“That’s the first thing to realise: unfortunately, it comes down to us now. We need to demand better, and hope comes out of the ability to create something better than what we had.
“In the Nobel lecture in 2021 I said an atom bomb exploded in our information ecosystem and has destroyed the world that was, so we’re stepping on the rubble of the world that was. What are we going to build? We need to build better. It needs to be more compassionate, more equal, more sustainable.
S95: What should we be aware of when it comes to social media and disinformation?
MR: “Begin to realise the role algorithms play. We’re being manipulated by machine learning that creates models – or, if you prefer, clones – of who we are. So they’re cloning us, which is being pulled together by artificial intelligence to micro-target you. You are being insidiously manipulated to sell a message to a company or country.
“Then, you start to recognise that you’re being manipulated. You need to step out of it and reclaim your rights. You didn’t authorise being cloned, but it’s happening with complete impunity online. We must do better – it’s our responsibility. If we don’t act now, it will only get worse. Already, it’s affecting the state of our democracies.
“Algorithms and platform designs are helping elect illiberal leaders. You’re voting for digital authoritarians. Be aware: it weaponizes our emotions, altering how we feel about the world and, in turn, how we act.”
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S95: As individuals, how can we find genuine perspectives and real-world connections outside the confines of our digital echo chamber?
MR: “Social media drives our public information ecosystem and is designed to commodify your attention. When you pick up your phone and start scrolling, be mindful of getting what you truly need out of that time because every minute spent there is, in many ways, time lost. You can find communities online, but make sure to connect in the real world, too. Ensure your needs are genuinely met, rather than just serving as a tool for big tech companies to profit from.
S95: You run a news organisation called Rappler in the Philippines. What role do you think journalism plays in today’s world?
MR: “Journalists globally are so weakened, and under such attack, that it is hard to create situations of trust. [It’s] right that people challenge [journalists] and frankly, the incentive structure for journalism, the distribution of it on social media, rewards the crappiest journalism. In a time of atomised content, please don’t call journalism content. It’s journalism. It’s really tough to do. It has a set of standards and ethics. So please go look for quality journalism. It is even more important than ever.”
S95: How can you rise above fear after enduring such oppression and still hold onto hope?
MR: “If you want to reach Mount Everest, aim for the moon because you’re at least going to hit Mount Everest. And who knows, you may get higher than that. Embrace your fear. Whatever it is that you’re most afraid of, you hold it. You embrace it. You think through the worst scenarios and prepare for them. Then, you’re ready for anything else that comes your way.”
Ella Marlow-Gilks is Social Media Manager at Service95; Jamie Styles is Editorial Assistant at Service95
