ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship the Supreme Court also stated that “[t]he need to Aside from Rappler, other media outlets and activists protect freedom of speech and of the press cannot have also been targeted by cyber libel cases. Since be understated. These freedoms are the most its enactment in 2012, 3,770 cyber libel cases pervasive and powerful vehicles of informing the have been filed.47 As of May 2022, there were 12 government of the opinions, needs, and grievances convictions on the basis of cyber libel.48 In a study of the public.”42 published in June 2023 analysing at least 50 Filipino Media is Under High Pressure In a concerted effort to repress media work in the country, on June 28, 2022, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission ordered the revocation of Rappler’s operating licence over an alleged violation of foreign ownership rules.43 Rappler had also been the subject of a tax probe by the Duterte administration in early 2018 on similar foreign ownership allegations, which led to the online news outlet and its head Maria Ressa being indicted on tax evasion and failure to file tax returns charges later that year.44 On Jan. 18, 2023, after more than four years of trial, Ressa and Rappler were acquitted by the Philippines’ Court of Tax Appeals, leaving her and Rappler with three remaining defamation and tax cases related to their activities.45 “ of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP) stated that in 61% of the cases, local politicians are the ones filing cases against journalists–thus reinforcing the idea that freedom of expression is often infringed upon by political actors.49 On Aug. 8, 2022, social activist and academic Walden Bello was arrested on cyber libel charges. The charge came after he wrote in a Facebook post that Jefry Tupas, an ex-information officer for Vice President Sara Duterte, was involved in illegal drug use at a party raided by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in November 2021. Walden Bello is an ardent critic of the late Ferdinand Marcos, father of sitting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Duterte, in addition to being a well-reputed progressive voice in the country.50 In a previous case from February 2022, Pauleen Throughout the six years of the Duterte administration, we have seen lawsuits and regulatory processes used as tools to muzzle the press and these, as much as the touted infrastructure projects, form part of the Duterte legacy. 46 - Written statement on the Rappler shutdown by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) The Philippines journalists who face libel charges, the National Union Velasquez, a 31-year-old woman in General Santos City, was arrested during a joint operation carried out by several law enforcement units in the area.52 A complaint was made against her for posting an allegedly libellous message on Facebook using a dummy account. She is now facing an imprisonment of prision mayor or a minimum fine of PHP 200,000 ($3,522).52 Online Attacks on Alternative and Mainstream Media The past few years have also seen online attacks on both alternative and mainstream media sites.53 In 2021, the human rights group Karapatan fell victim to sustained distributed denial of service (DdoS) attacks; a Swedish-based digital forensics nonprofit by the name of Qurium Media found that 225