‘Where Is the Line Where Immoral Becomes Evil?’
Updated at 12:28 p.m. ET on April 8, 2022.
In yesterday’s keynote at Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy, a conference hosted by The Atlantic and the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, Maria Ressa compared the impact of social media on our information ecosystem in recent years to that of an atomic bomb: destructive, all-consuming, irreversible. Afterward, Ressa sat down with Atlantic executive editor Adrienne LaFrance to discuss Rappler, the news site she co-founded in the Philippines; press freedom; social-media platforms; and how journalists and audiences can guard against disinformation. Their conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.
Adrienne LaFrance: I want to start by going back, specifically to the start of Rappler.
Maria Ressa: You were the first American reporter to write about Rappler, in 2012.
LaFrance: We go way back. And when we talked all those years ago, I remember your preoccupation with emotional contagion. I remember you saying something to me to the effect of, “We need to create informational environments where people can be rational and not just emotional.” That was 10 years ago. Here we are now. When you think back to what your dreams were for Rappler when you started, what’s your primary observation about what’s changed other than it’s gotten worse? And do you still feel like rationality over emotionality is the core mission? Is it enough?
[Maria Ressa: We’re all being manipulated the same way]
Oh my God, there’s three things that are there, right? Right off the top. So we came out with a mood meter and a
