🇵🇭 Maria Ressa: War on Truth | Witness

It’s the battle of our age.
Facebook and other social media giants are being manipulated by governments and corporations, weakening democracies.
No country epitomises the consequences of this battle more so than the Philippines.
No individual personifies the struggle against it more so than Maria Ressa.
Maria is the editor of Rappler, a digital news outlet that flourished under Facebook, and she now says is being crushed by it as the government uses it to shut down its critics.
She runs what she calls the ‘Shark Tank’, one of the largest independent databases of Facebook accounts and comments that is tracking 15 million accounts propagating disinformation on social media and that are used to control debate globally.
While she lobbies social media giants to become more accountable abroad, she’s facing legal battles at home, with her government trying to jail her, shut her outlet down and silence dissent.
We follow Maria while she fights at the frontlines of what she calls the war on truth and to prevent democracies failing not only in her country but also worldwide.

Yaara Bou Melhem – Director/ Producer
Georgia Quinn – Associate Producer
Gretchen Malalad – Fixer (Manila)
Francisco Forbes – Editor
Ben Emery – DOP (Manila)
Benjamin Croce – DOP (Paris)
Perish Factory – Animation
Leo Dolgan – Sound Design
Luis Calvo – Colour Grade

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