MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s widely-quoted statement, “Time to take back the Internet” might just come back to haunt her. Just in time for Halloween.

Ressa has been very vocal about the proliferation of “fake” news sites and trolls that have left her online news organization lagging behind in terms of followers and reader engagements.  She was particularly critical of entertainer-turned-political blogger, Mocha Uson, who has more than 4 million followers, twice that of Rappler.

Now, the Philippine government may soon ‘take back the Internet’ from Rappler because it appears it has violated the Philippine Constitution.

Article XVI, Section 11 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution specifically states that the mass media must be wholly-owned and managed by citizens of the Philippines.

But Rappler is partly-owned by a foreign company, Omidyar Network.  How do we know? Rappler itself told us so way back on November 5, 2015:

So, before Rappler can take back the Internet, it may first have to give it up!