• Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered the closure of Rappler.
• The news website is owned by Nobel winner Maria Ressa.
• In January, the SEC cancelled Rappler’s licence for allegedly violating the country’s constitution.
• Its licence was revoked over foreign ownership of media outlets.
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The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered the closure of Rappler, the media website owned by Nobel winner Maria Ressa, in a decision that will deal a further blow to independent journalism in the southeast Asian nation.

The decision was made just two days before President Rodrigo Duterte, the outlet’s most prominent critic, was scheduled to stand down in favour of incoming President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, who will assume office on Thursday. Rappler stated that it would appeal the ruling.

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“In an order dated June 28, our Securities and Exchange Commission affirmed its earlier decision to revoke the certificate of incorporation of Rappler Inc and Rappler Holdings Corporation,” the company said in a statement posted by Ressa, the outlet’s chief executive, on Wednesday morning. “We were notified by our lawyers of this ruling that effectively confirmed the shutdown of Rappler.

“We are entitled to appeal this decision and will do so, especially since the proceedings were highly irregular.”

In January, the Philippine SEC cancelled Rappler’s licence for allegedly violating the country’s constitution and anti-dummy statute. The ruling resulted from lengthy litigation involving the site’s issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts, security that allows foreigners to invest in Philippine enterprises without really owning them, to overseas investor Omidyar Network. The nation’s constitution prohibits foreign ownership of media outlets.

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The SEC launched an investigation into Rappler in 2016, and the investigation was one of the multiple criminal cases filed by Philippine authorities against the website, Ressa, and other Rappler executives during the six-year presidency of Duterte, who has eroded democratic safeguards and moved the Philippines toward authoritarianism.

Ressa and Russian writer Dmitry Muratov, editor of Novaya Gazeta, were given the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for their work protecting freedom of expression.