Maria Ressa
Maria Ressa’s keynote speech will be a powerful call to defend truth and democracy in an era of disinformation. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate will speak with urgency about the dangers of unchecked lies amplified through social media, warning how they will erode trust, polarise societies, and threaten freedoms. Drawing from her experience as a journalist under attack, Ressa will emphasise courage, integrity, and solidarity as essential tools for resisting authoritarianism. She will urge individuals to take responsibility for the information they consume and share, highlighting the moral duty of protecting facts.
Speakers
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Maria RessaNobel Peace Prize Laureate, Co-founder and CEO, RapplerMaria Ressa
Counsellor
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Co-founder and CEO, Rappler
Maria Ressa co-founded Rappler, the top digital only news site that is leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines. As Rappler's CEO, Maria has endured constant political harassment and arrests by the Duterte government, forced to post bail ten times to stay free. Rappler's battle for truth and democracy is the subject of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival documentary, A Thousand Cuts. For her courage and journalistic integrity, Maria has received numerous accolades. In October 2021, she was one of two journalists awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace." In 2022, she was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to the Leadership Panel of the Internet Governance Forum and serves as its Vice-Chair. She is an inaugural Carnegie Distinguished Fellow at Columbia University’s newly launched Institute of Global Politics, where she leads projects related to artificial intelligence and democracy. In July 2024, she will join the faculty of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs as a professor of professional practice. Maria authored Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia and From Bin Laden to Facebook. Her most recent book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator, was released in November 2022 and has been translated into 20 languages with more to come. Maria focuses critical attention on the breakdown of our global information ecosystem and how interconnected communities of action can hold the line to protect democratic values.