Rappler ordered to cease operations

Closing its doors: (Left) An employee of online portal Rappler working inside the office in Pasig City, suburban Manila, as Ressa (top) decries the directive. — AFP

A news site co-founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa has been ordered to shut down, the company said, a day before President Rodrigo Duterte – its arch-nemesis – leaves office.

Ressa has been a vocal critic of Duterte and the deadly drug war he launched in 2016, triggering what media advocates say is a grinding series of criminal charges, probes and online attacks against her and Rappler.