How Rappler Is Building Its Own Communities to Counter AI and Big Tech

Nobel laureate (2021) Maria Ressa needs little introduction. She is the CEO and co-founder of groundbreaking digital news outlet Rappler and, as of this month, professor of professional practice in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

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.

“This is existential for the planet; if journalism doesn’t survive, democracy dies. It’s existential, like climate is existential, and we will not solve the climate crisis until we face the corruption of the public information ecosystem.” — Nobel Prize Laureate and Rappler Co-founder Maria Ressa

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 Ressa has been making to counter “the cascading failures of a corrupted public information ecosystem.”

Ressa chatted with the World Editors Forum about Rappler Communities, the existential threat to journalism, and making bold moves in countering Big Tech.

WAN-IFRA: You’ve been outspoken on the impact of tech — specifically social media — on journalism in general, and democracy at large: why, then, Rappler Communities?

Maria Ressa: Building community was Rappler’s main goal from the very beginning; when we started in 2012, our elevator pitch read: ‘We build communities of action, the food we feed our communities is journalism.’

In January last year, we had a strategy, but once we saw what was happening: generative AI rolled out; Meta began choking traffic to news sites — resulting in a worldwide drop ranging from 50 to 85% — and then search, Google search building generative AI on top of its search, meaning that a news site really can’t opt out of its large language model…

Once we saw that last year, we knew we would have to pivot.

We realized: there is no future for digital news unless we build our own tech, because there are only three ways a digital news site, or any digital site, gets traffic: direct, search, or social search.

In May, AI search was rolled out. It’s already out in the United States, and the estimate is that’s a minimum of another 30% drop in traffic — so the digital funnel is closing, and you have no control over your distribution.

If you do not trust the tech, then you are always going to be at the mercy of surveillance for-profit tech companies that, frankly, don’t understand news or the value of journalism.

We were building an ontology and a way to use the new technology of generative AI, and we realized: why do we keep sending our community, why do we build it on Meta or on Twitter or on any of these tech platforms, when we can’t be assured that facts will win, or that the hideous manipulation of algorithms will not happen?

So why did we roll this out? For our survival.

WAN-IFRA: ‘The app is our vision for the future of news.’ How do you envision the future of journalism — and what role will Rappler Communities play in that scenario?

MR: It’s bleak. I’ve shared my thoughts on the future of news here. This is existential for the planet; if journalism doesn’t survive, democracy dies. It’s existential, like climate is existential, and we will not solve the climate crisis until we face the corruption of the 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.

Most important, is that we really have a shared reality.

Building our communities prepares us for our 2025 elections and, more than that, it also gives us an idea for how this will survive this era, because I’m making the bet that the enshitification of the internet, or the Age of Enshitocene, is only going to get worse, and people are going to want a place where they’re not attacked; where they can say what they think without being attacked, and that you can actually trust that the person you’re talking to is a real person.

“Collaborate. Collaborate. Collaborate. We’re still stuck in the old world of individual news brands when, in the end, it’s about facts, fact-based, evidence-based, storytelling — and storytelling in different formats.” — Maria Ressa

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.

WAN-IFRA: Rappler has, by force, needed to innovate to survive. It is now, by comparison, thriving at a time when most newsrooms are struggling. What innovations worked, and what lessons for newsrooms now facing the multiple threats of disinfo, political interference, big tech?

MR: Crisis equals opportunity.

In 2016, when Rappler came under attack on social media, we pivoted and made search — which seemed much more predictable, more authoritative — critical for us; now 50, 60% of our traffic is search. Most digital news sites probably get 20% direct traffic.

What we have seen is unique: we are top in our unique users in the Philippines, and we are top in terms of duplicated audiences.

This is thanks to a combination of the tech and a pivot of our editorial team, because in order to make this new world work, our workflows are constantly changing.

It calls for constant learning, and there’s something exciting about it at the same time — like being in quicksand; you have to make the right move at the right time, or you’ll sink deeper.

I think teamwork is key, and the critical part for us was realizing that we need to align our team so that every part knows what every other part is doing, so you know at least which direction you’re headed together, and that you shape each other for each other’s weaknesses… Take the strengths and multiply them and shield against the weaknesses.

WAN-IFRA: You’ve often stressed that: “Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without these three, we have no shared reality.” What can news organizations do to rebuild or maintain trust with their audience?

MR: Collaborate. Collaborate. Collaborate. We’re still stuck in the old world of individual news brands when, in the end, it’s about facts, fact-based, evidence-based, storytelling — and storytelling in different formats.

The original sin upstream is that our news, our facts, our stories, are getting distributed on technology that is literally corrupting the public sphere.

“With Rappler Communities, it feels like we’re reclaiming our rights, and we’re reclaiming our reality and building real trust.” — Maria Ressa

On social media, everything is for sale — this goes against the standards and ethics of journalism and the boundaries that we place between the editorial team and the sales team.

We are trying very hard to go back to what are the standards and ethics that are necessary to bring values back into our information ecosystem so you can have facts and a shared reality. Literally, we need to build a place where we have a shared reality.

WAN-IFRA: How can news media collectively turn the tide against the various negative forces impacting the landscape?

MR: There is no survival for democracy, society, if news organizations don’t come together. News organizations are also now significantly weaker because of the insidious manipulation of tech companies. Now, it’s the tellers versus surveillance for profit versus the manipulators versus people.

With Rappler Communities, it feels like we’re reclaiming our rights, and we’re reclaiming our reality and building real trust. And we need our allies — other news organizations with the same standards and ethics — because we cannot do this alone. We need every single news organization to work with us, because then, we can do several things together, as trusted news sites with content that follows standards and ethics — we can even have advertising on trusted communities together.

And we can actually also build our own large language models together — Rappler has its own now — but there’s a lot more we can do, together.

This app allows us to build trust. It builds trust because people downloading and coming into the chat are getting to know us. Every chat is with an editorial person; the first level of moderation is AI, but every chat system has a team of reporters or editors with it, so it allows us to build real trust instead of the fake engagement.

I think this is critical, because if you don’t trust the people you’re talking to, what will you accomplish? Building trust is how we survived.

WAN-IFRA: You’ve been interviewed extensively; what is the one question you’d like to be asked — or asked more of?

MR: No one ever asks enough about my co-founders — Glenda Gloria, Chay Hofileña, and Beth Frondoso — yet it would have been impossible for us to have achieved any of what we have, without the four of us moving in the same direction, with the same values, without the trust.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally posted on the World Editors’ Forum of the WAN-IFRA website and is republished here with permission. It has been lightly edited for style. 

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Lucinda Jordaan is an independent media consultant with extensive experience in all media sectors and on all publishing platforms, from print and digital to film and broadcast. She has assumed various roles in her 30-year media career, from newsroom dash sub and freelance journalist to author and coach. She now freelances as a writer, editor, consultant and coach: providing full-suite media and communications services to media enterprises and agencies. Lucinda regularly writes for the WAN-IFRA World Editors Forum.