After being hit by Palace officials for producing “fake news,” Rappler has again found itself at the receiving end of harsh criticism, this time from Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who slammed the online news site for producing what he said was “the stupidest article” he had ever read.
Assange was referring to an article published by Rappler last week that alleged that the internet activist had links with Russian online propagandists that had infiltrated the country. The only basis of the article—entitled “Bots, Assange, an alliance: Has Russian propaganda infiltrated the Philippines?”—was a tweet sent out by Assange in October 2017.
Assange had commented “Is Rappler right?” to a Rappler article shared by the online news source on its Twitter account, in which Rappler said “Contrary to Duterte’s claims, Rappler is 100 percent Filipino owned, and the CIA is not one of its founders.”
“This article in Rappler is literally the stupidest I have ever read. The evidence of a Russian plot is that I tweeted a link to Rappler,” a dumbfounded Assange said in his Twitter account.
In the article, the news outfit used Assange’s single tweet as one of the examples of “questionable tweets that raised concern about possible Russian presence in the Philippine online space.” Rappler claimed that Assange’s tweet helped cast doubts on the nature of its ownership.
The Securities and Exchange Commission would later revoke the certificate of incorporation of Rappler.
The Assange assault comes days after Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go slammed Rappler for “irresponsible reporting” on his role in the Philippine Navy’s P15.7-billion CMS (combat management system) frigate project.
Rappler had alleged that Go had attempted to intervene in the procurement of the vessel’s CMS on the basis of a white paper coursed by his office to the Department of National Defense.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana admitted that he obtained the document and then endorsed it through a note to then Navy chief Vice Adm. Ronald Joseph Mercado. At the hearing, Mercado cleared Go of any involvement in the multibillion-peso warship procurement deal, and said Go had never attempted to influence his decision-making regarding the multi-billion peso government deal.
Senators likewise found nothing irregular with the actions of Go. Senator Loren Legarda said nothing in the letter endorsed by Lorenzana to Mercado indicated an attempt by Go to intervene in the said project.
“I’ve read all documents, and all I see is this handwritten message and it’s a pro forma request of the secretary that says, ‘Look into it.’ Don’t we all do that?”