DUBAI: The Philippine government has ordered Nobel Peace Prize laureate and journalist Maria Ressa’s online news organization, Rappler, to shut down. Ressa revealed the development on Tuesday as she gave the keynote address at an event in Hawaii, according to media reports. She said the decree was issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The reason for the order is likely related to Rappler’s coverage of the country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte. It has been critical of his regime, exposing details of his violent war on drugs and the government’s use of disinformation.Ressa said Rappler will challenge the order to close, which “affirmed” an earlier decision to revoke the media organization’s certificates of incorporation. “We are entitled to appeal this decision and will do so, especially since the proceedings were highly irregular,” she said. She also distributed an internal memo to Rappler staff, according to Hawaii News Now, in which she said: “It is business as usual for us since, in our view, this is not immediately executory without court approval.”Ressa was awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for using used her platform to raise awareness of Duterte’s alleged abuses. It was shared with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, who was honored for the decades he has spent defending freedom of speech in Russia.Throughout her career, Ressa has faced significant backlash from the Philippine government. In June 2020, she was convicted in the country of “cyber libel” and could face prison time. The case was just one of many brought against Rappler which, as of December last year, faced seven active prosecutions. Rappler has been praised for its coverage of Duterte’s war on drugs, along with its stories about developments in social media and technology, especially the spread of fake news and the need for regulation. In October last year, Ressa appeared as a guest on an episode of US TV show “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” during which she appealed for “guardrails around the technology.” She also explained the three pillars on which Rappler was built: regulating technology, supporting independent journalism, and building community. “These are the lifeblood of democracy,” she added.