By Karen Lema

MANILA, (Reuters) – Maria Ressa (Nobel Peace Prize Winner) used her newly gained prominence to attack Facebook (NASDAQ) for being a threat to democracy. She claimed that the social media giant failed to prevent hate speech and spread disinformation and was biased against facts.

After winning the award, Rappler, a veteran journalist who also heads the Philippine news website Rappler said to Reuters that Facebook algorithms had “prioritised the spreading of lies laced in anger and hatred over facts.”

Her comments add to the pile of recent pressure on Facebook, used by more than 3 billion people, which a former employee turned whistleblower https://www.reuters.com/technology/facebook-whistleblower-reveals-identity-ahead-senate-hearing-2021-10-03 accused of putting profit over the need to curb hate speech and misinformation. Facebook has denied all wrongdoing.

Ressa’s comments were not addressed by a representative of Facebook Philippines.

Ressa https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nobel-prize-shines-light-dark-time-philippines-ressa-2021-10-08 shared the Nobel https://www.reuters.com/world/philippines-journalist-ressa-russian-journalist-muratov-win-2021-nobel-peace-2021-10-08 with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-editor-muratov-dedicates-nobel-prize-staff-murdered-their-work-2021-10-08 on Friday, for what the committee called braving the wrath of the leaders of the Philippines and Russia to expose corruption and misrule, in an endorsement of free speech under fire worldwide.

Ressa stated that Facebook is now the largest news distributor in the world, but it has been biased against factual information and biased against journalism.

You can’t trust if you don’t know the facts. “If you don’t have all of these you can’t have democracy,” she stated. “Aside from that, without facts, there is no shared reality. This means you cannot solve existential climate and coronavirus problems.”

Ressa has come under intense hatred from Rodrigo Duterte supporters on social media. They claimed they are aimed at discrediting her and Rappler.

ELECTION: ‘A BATTLE OF FACTS’

The former CNN journalist stated that “these online attacks against social media have an purpose, they’re targeted, and they’re used as a weapon.”

Rappler’s reporting has included close scrutiny of Duterte’s deadly war on drugs https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/philippines-drugs and a series of investigative reports into what it says is his government’s strategy to “weaponise” the internet, using bloggers on its payroll to stir up anger among online supporters who threaten and discredit Duterte’s critics.

Duterte is not expected to comment on Ressa being awarded. Reuters reached out to Duterte via his spokesperson, the presidential palace and his chief legal counsel.

Facebook in March 2019 removed an online network in the Philippines for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-facebook-fake-accounts-idUKKCN1RA0CL”, and linked it to a businessman who has previously said he helped manage the president’s social media election campaign in 2016.

Filipinos top the world https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2021-global-overview-report in time spent on social media, according to 2021 studies by social media management firms.

Facebook, and platforms like it have turned into political battlegrounds. These have helped Duterte’s support base and were instrumental in his 2016 election win and the defeat of his allies at mid-term elections last year.

The Philippines will hold an election in May to choose a successor to Duterte https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/contenders-philippines-2022-presidential-race-2021-09-30, who under the constitution is not allowed to seek another term.

Ressa declared that this campaign will be a “fight for facts”. Ressa stated, “We will keep making sure that the public is aware of and understands facts. “We will not be intimidated or harassed into silence.”