Ressa, CEO of online news site Rappler and a former Time Magazine Person of the Year, has scrutinized President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs and weaponization of social media. The Manila Regional Trial Court sentenced Ressa and co-defendant Reynaldo Santos Jr., a former Rappler reporter, to between six months and six years in prison. Both were granted bail pending appeals, which could reach the country’s Supreme Court. (Rappler)

Talking point: Rappler, Ressa and Santos Jr. were charged in 2017 over a May 2012 story about a businessman with links to the government. The country’s cyber libel law was passed in September 2012; the Philippine justice department argued that since Rappler updated the article in 2014 to correct a minor typographical error, it fell within the statute’s purview. Duterte has dismissed Rappler as “fake news,” and Filipino authorities have instigated 11 government investigations and court cases against the website. Monday’s verdict is a major blow for press freedom, and could have implications for the future use of cyber-libel laws. Ressa’s lawyer, Amal Clooney, said the Manila court had become “complicit in a sinister action to silence a journalist for exposing corruption and abuse.” In an interview with The Logic’s David Skok and CIGI senior fellow Taylor Owen for an episode of the Big Tech podcast that will air Tuesday, Ressa warned the verdict could also have an impact on platforms like Facebook that she said have “abdicated responsibility for facts” and threatens to topple democracies around the world.