Rights advocates have challenged allegations that Philippines news website Rappler committed cyber libel with a story published in 2012, almost two years before legislation for such online crimes had come into effect. Maria Ressa, chief of Rappler, maintains that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s revoking of Rappler’s licence on 11 January was designed to intimidate journalists whose reporting has challenged President Rodrigo Duterte, notorious for his public tirades against opponents. Political scientists have observed the world slumping into a kind of “democratic recession” in recent years. When citizens repeatedly see leaders getting away with obvious abuses, it is natural to become blasé about repression, writes Cherian George for South China Morning Post