The Dictator's Playbook Revisited — with Maria Ressa (Rerun)

[This episode originally aired on November 5, 2019] Maria Ressa
is arguably one of the bravest journalists working in the
Philippines today. As co-founder and CEO of the media site
Rappler, she has withstood death threats, multiple arrests and a
rising tide of populist fury that she first saw on Facebook, in
the form of a strange and jarring personal attack. Through her
story, she reveals, play by play, how an aspiring strongman can
use social media to spread falsehoods, sow confusion, intimidate
critics and subvert democratic institutions. Nonetheless, she
argues Silicon Valley can reverse these trends, and fast. First,
tech companies must "wake up," she says, to the threats they've
unleashed throughout the Global South. Second, they must
recognize that social media is intrinsically designed to favor
the strongman over the lone dissident and the propagandist over
the truth-teller, which is why it has become the central tool in
every aspiring dictator's playbook.