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How Rappler Is Building Its Own Communities to Counter AI and Big Tech
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of Global Investigative Journalism Network
Posted: May 28th, 2025
https://gijn.org/stories/rappler-building-communities-counte...
Rappler, founded by a group of journalists in 2012, has evolved over time to become one of the leading, most trusted news outlets in the Philippines. In December, the organization launched Rappler Communities, a trailblazing mobile app which it had built and connected directly to their news feed. Built on the open source, secure, decentralized Matrix protocol, the app has the potential to become a global independent news distribution outlet, and promises to pave the way for a “shared reality” — a call [founder and Nobel laureate Maria] Ressa has been making to counter “the cascading failures of a corrupted public information ecosystem.” "At this moment, if news journalism doesn’t come together with communities and civil society that cares about a shared reality, democracy cannot survive," [said Ressa]. "Most important, is that we really have a shared reality. Once our community is set at the matrix protocol chat app, it can then work with other news organizations and become a trusted news distributor. So we will own our distribution, and we could strengthen our communities. Before the end of the year, we aim to have four other new sites, in different parts of the world, federated on this protocol. The matrix protocol is end-to-end encrypted; it is decentralized, similar to the Internet Governance Forum — like having a co-op, it isn’t individually owned, or profit-driven. It’s, literally, a place where we have a shared reality."
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