Myanmar

Shutdowns in Myanmar

MYANMAR’S DIGITAL DICTATORSHIP

On February 1, 2021, the military besieged Myanmar, taking control of the nation through a violent coup. Since then, it has perpetrated brutal crackdowns and serious human rights violations that potentially amount to war crimes. 

By steadily fortifying surveillance infrastructure across the country and regularly cutting off internet access and mobile connectivity, the military is determined to crush the resistance through its digital dictatorship. It is devastating people’s fundamental rights to an adequate standard of living, privacy, security, association, and freedom of expression. Yet amid other global crises, the world has stopped paying attention to the escalating human rights catastrophe happening in Myanmar. 

The international community must step up and hold the Myanmar military to account, and confront  private businesses that are enabling, and profiting from, serious rights violations across the country, — including through supply of arms and related assistance to the military.

Surveillance and spyware

Digital rights
Surveillance

Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance tools in Myanmar

10 Jul 2023

Access Now addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council at its 53rd session regarding the intensified abuse of surveillance and digital tools by the Myanmar military, ahead of the elections.

Press Release
Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance tools in Myanmar
10 Jul 2023
Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance tools in Myanmar
Myanmar CCTV camera
Freedom of Expression

Track and target: FAQ on Myanmar CCTV cameras and facial recognition

4 Aug 2022

The military junta in Myanmar is rolling out China-made CCTV cameras with facial recognition capabilities to intensify surveillance against the people.

Post
Track and target: FAQ on Myanmar CCTV cameras and facial recognition
4 Aug 2022
Track and target: FAQ on Myanmar CCTV cameras and facial recognition
header image: pushing back against IMEI registration in Myanmar
Privacy

Myanmar IMEI FAQ: how the junta could disconnect the resistance

7 Jul 2022

Myanmar’s proposed IMEI rules raise surveillance and connectivity risks. Telco operators must prepare to push back.

Post
Myanmar IMEI FAQ: how the junta could disconnect the resistance
7 Jul 2022
Myanmar IMEI FAQ: how the junta could disconnect the resistance
Myanmar Counter-terrorism Law
Freedom of Expression

Myanmar’s “counter-terrorism” by-laws must be denounced for what they are – illegal

19 Apr 2023

Myanmar’s counter-terrorism by-laws will allow the junta to access people’s personal data and tag them as terrorists.

Post
Myanmar’s “counter-terrorism” by-laws must be denounced for what they are – illegal
19 Apr 2023
Myanmar’s “counter-terrorism” by-laws must be denounced for what they are – illegal

Internet shutdowns and connectivity

Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition's report unpacks internet shutdowns in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and globally.
Internet Shutdowns

Internet shutdowns in Myanmar: facilitating brutal human rights violations in 2022

28 Feb 2023

#KeepItOn shows that internet shutdowns in Myanmar facilitated brutal human rights violations in 2022.

Press Release
Internet shutdowns in Myanmar: facilitating brutal human rights violations in 2022
28 Feb 2023
Internet shutdowns in Myanmar: facilitating brutal human rights violations in 2022
Myanmar internet shutdowns
Internet Shutdowns

Internet shutdowns shroud and facilitate brutality of Myanmar junta’s airstrike in Hpakant township

27 Oct 2022

Access Now condemns the ongoing war crimes committed by the military in Myanmar, and its use of internet shutdowns to conceal the atrocities.

Press Release
Internet shutdowns shroud and facilitate brutality of Myanmar junta’s airstrike in Hpakant township
27 Oct 2022
Internet shutdowns shroud and facilitate brutality of Myanmar junta’s airstrike in Hpakant township
Shutdowns in Myanmar
Freedom of Expression

Open call to all international actors: do more to stop internet shutdowns shrouding torchings and killings in Myanmar

23 Jun 2022

International actors must do more to stop internet shutdowns shrouding torchings and killings in Myanmar

Press Release
Open call to all international actors: do more to stop internet shutdowns shrouding torchings and killings in Myanmar
23 Jun 2022
Open call to all international actors: do more to stop internet shutdowns shrouding torchings and killings in Myanmar
Myanmar's digital dictatorship
Freedom of Expression

UN Experts join civil society in condemning Myanmar military’s “digital dictatorship” and call for Member State action

7 Jun 2022

Access Now supports UN human rights experts’ condemnation of the Myanmar military’s efforts to cement a “digital dictatorship.”

Press Release
UN Experts join civil society in condemning Myanmar military’s “digital dictatorship” and call for Member State action
7 Jun 2022
UN Experts join civil society in condemning Myanmar military’s “digital dictatorship” and call for Member State action

Incitement to violence and censorship online

photo by: Jeremy Bezanger
Freedom of Expression

Meta and Google must use their powers to stop Myanmar’s alternative propaganda machine

21 Sep 2022

The Myanmar junta is building an alternative propaganda machine and banning Youtube and Facebook across the country. MTube and OKPar apps are being offered as alternatives.

Press Release
Meta and Google must use their powers to stop Myanmar’s alternative propaganda machine
21 Sep 2022
Meta and Google must use their powers to stop Myanmar’s alternative propaganda machine
Cybersecurity

Analysis: the Myanmar junta’s Cybersecurity Law would be a disaster for human rights

27 Jan 2022

The Myanmar junta’s efforts to achieve ultimate control over civic space is continuing — through a devastating draft Cybersecurity Law.

Post
Analysis: the Myanmar junta’s Cybersecurity Law would be a disaster for human rights
27 Jan 2022
Analysis: the Myanmar junta’s Cybersecurity Law would be a disaster for human rights
Musk
Digital Security

Access Now to Telegram: protect the rights of 500 million people

8 Dec 2021

Access Now and a coalition of civil society organizations are sounding the alarm over safety and security issues plaguing Telegram.

Press Release
Access Now to Telegram: protect the rights of 500 million people
8 Dec 2021
Access Now to Telegram: protect the rights of 500 million people
Myanmar's digital dictatorship
Freedom of Expression

Myanmar’s ‘digital dictatorship’ aims to criminalize VPNs

11 Jun 2022
News
Myanmar’s ‘digital dictatorship’ aims to criminalize VPNs
11 Jun 2022
Myanmar’s ‘digital dictatorship’ aims to criminalize VPNs

FAQS

WHAT DOES MYANMAR’S ONLINE SPACE LOOK LIKE?

Myanmar’s online space is severely restricted. The military increasingly abuses digital tools to track and target people, facilitating serious human rights violations and offline attacks:

  • Expansion of surveillance infrastructure, including the procurement and installation of biometric tools, have strengthened the military’s ability to track and target individuals’ movements, networks, communications, and personal information. They will — potentially also facilitate the railroading of subservient voting in military-imposed elections. 

How is the junta weaponizing internet shutdowns in Myanmar?

The junta is using targeted internet shutdowns in areas where resistance is strongest — Karenni, Kachin, Sagaing, Magway, and Chin — to isolate and prevent documentation of its violence. The systematic blockings of internet connections often coincide with protests and burning of villages known to be opposition strongholds. When the military shuts down the internet, people cannot access life-saving information as they flee their homes.

Since the start of 2022, all 330 townships in the country have been subjected to shutdowns at least once, and more than 50 townships have been cut off for almost two years.

Find out more about internet shutdowns in Myanmar by reading Access Now’s report, Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022.

What tools are being deployed to increase surveillance in Myanmar?

The military is determined to strengthen its ability to track and target people in Myanmar, and is deploying:

  • Revamped SIM card and IMEI registration measures that require people to disclose personal details to military-controlled or linked telecommunications companies,  where intercept technologies are already activated to monitor communications.
  • Building a national database connecting national ID and household registration data with personal information like addresses, fingerprints, photos, and banking details.

How is the junta infiltrating and manipulating the telecommunications sector to censor people in Myanmar?

All four of Myanmar’s telecommunications companies are now military-owned or controlled by companies with close links to the military, making it  easy to order the activation of intercept technologies that can monitor people’s communications and location. These are following:

  • Nine Communications, a Singapore-based subsidiary of Link Family Office and military-linked Nyan Win, which bought out Ooredoo.
  • M1 Group, which bought Telenor Myanmar through its Singapore-registered entity, Investcom Pte Ltd — the majority of which is owned by the military-linked Shwe Byain Phyu Group.
  • Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), a state-backed telecommunications company.
  • Mytel, a venture between the military and Viettel, owned by Vietnam’s defense ministry.

Aside from the self-censoring effect when personal communications are blatantly monitored, the military is also curtailing freedom of expression by making it infinitely more difficult to access and use telecommunications and internet services: 

  • Phone seizures and hacking are being abused by the military to monitor and target individuals deemed to oppose the regime, as well as members of their families and communities. 
  • The draft Cybersecurity Law  threatens to criminalize the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) — a  vital tool for anyone attempting to safely navigate online spaces through their computers and mobile devices. 
  • Bylaws under the Counterterrorism Law are facilitating the interception of personal communications and dramatically increasing the online and offline risks faced by people voicing opposition to the military — with severe penalties.

What can technology and telecommunications companies in Myanmar do?

  • Continuously and transparently engage in dialogue with civil society to effectively identify and address human rights challenges and risks that may arise from decisions about their operations in Myanmar. 
  • Conduct heightened due diligence in line with international human rights standards to ensure that their products and services are not being used by the military or military-controlled actors to violate human rights, and immediately remove tools used to facilitate rights abuses from the market.
  • Immediately implement safeguards and redress mechanisms to protect users at risk, including data protection and privacy safeguards to resist increasing attempts to extend surveillance, censorship, and rights violations, and actively and regularly engage key stakeholders on mechanisms for redress and accountability.

For more information, see guidance documents from Access Now:

What can the international community do to fight against Myanmar’s digital dictatorship?

  • Help provide alternative means for people in Myanmar to safely access the internet.
  • Call for a comprehensive arms embargo, including a ban on the sale or transfer of surveillance technologies, equipment, intelligence or related assistance to the military, particularly “dual-use” and biometric technologies enabling mass and discriminatory targeted surveillance.
  • Provide tangible funding and assistance to people in Myanmar facing immense risks and challenges navigating increasingly complicated visa, documentation, and relocation challenges. 
  • Continue to keep political attention and will on Myanmar, by highlighting the deteriorating human rights crisis at the international, regional, and local levels. It is particularly vital to engage in countries where companies with investments in Myanmar are headquartered, where efforts to sanction military-linked officials have been robust, and where there are ongoing legal efforts to hold military officials to account.
  • Support civil society and grassroots efforts, including the work of youth activists, education service providers, and women human rights defenders, in resisting the junta through advocacy.

Latest updates

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Protest and Online Organizing
Protest and Online Organizing

Joint Statement: Internet Governance Forum must reverse decision to make Saudi Arabia its next host

12 Oct 2023

An IGF 2024 hosted by Saudi Arabia is incompatible with the event’s multistakeholder model, as human rights risks make robust civil society engagement impossible.

Campaign
Joint Statement: Internet Governance Forum must reverse decision to make Saudi Arabia its next host
12 Oct 2023
Joint Statement: Internet Governance Forum must reverse decision to make Saudi Arabia its next host
Digital rights
Surveillance
Surveillance

Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance tools in Myanmar

10 Jul 2023

Access Now addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council at its 53rd session regarding the intensified abuse of surveillance and digital tools by the Myanmar military, ahead of the elections.

Press Release
Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance tools in Myanmar
10 Jul 2023
Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance tools in Myanmar
Digital rights
Privacy
Privacy

Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance and digital tools against people of Myanmar

10 Jul 2023

Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance and digital tools against people of Myanmar

Publication
Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance and digital tools against people of Myanmar
10 Jul 2023
Access Now’s UNHRC statement: Urge arms embargo to stave off expanding military abuse of surveillance and digital tools against people of Myanmar
header image: pushing back against IMEI registration in Myanmar

Myanmar Junta Steps Up Efforts to Monitor, Silence Perceived Online Critics

14 Jun 2023
News
Myanmar Junta Steps Up Efforts to Monitor, Silence Perceived Online Critics
Irrawaddy ↗
14 Jun 2023
Myanmar Junta Steps Up Efforts to Monitor, Silence Perceived Online Critics
Passport and Visa Systems must not exclude members of human rights community around the world
Protest and Online Organizing
Protest and Online Organizing

Joint Statement: Passport and visa systems must not exclude members of the human rights community from cross-border convenings

7 Jun 2023

These discriminatory systems prevent human rights defenders from coming together to advance their work, bring severe hardship and harm to those impacted, and unjustly place the heaviest burden on people from the Global Majority. Join us in taking a stand.

Campaign
Joint Statement: Passport and visa systems must not exclude members of the human rights community from cross-border convenings
7 Jun 2023
Joint Statement: Passport and visa systems must not exclude members of the human rights community from cross-border convenings
DRC internet. #KeepItOn
Internet Shutdowns
Internet Shutdowns

Who is shutting down the internet in 2023? A mid-year update

6 Jun 2023

Since the beginning of 2023, governments around the world are discovering new reasons to disrupt internet access during key national moments.

Publication
Who is shutting down the internet in 2023? A mid-year update
6 Jun 2023
Who is shutting down the internet in 2023? A mid-year update
Tech and conflict
Transparency
Transparency

Tech and conflict: a guide for responsible business conduct

18 May 2023

This guide is meant to help tech companies think through the impacts of their decisions in the context of conflict.

Guide
Tech and conflict: a guide for responsible business conduct
18 May 2023
Tech and conflict: a guide for responsible business conduct
header image: pushing back against IMEI registration in Myanmar
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of Expression

Myanmar Junta Cracks Down on Social Media Posts Deemed Anti-Regime

28 Apr 2023
News
Myanmar Junta Cracks Down on Social Media Posts Deemed Anti-Regime
The Irrawaddy ↗
28 Apr 2023
Myanmar Junta Cracks Down on Social Media Posts Deemed Anti-Regime
Myanmar's digital dictatorship
Surveillance
Surveillance

KBZ users struggle under junta surveillance

28 Apr 2023
News
KBZ users struggle under junta surveillance
Frontier Myanamr ↗
28 Apr 2023
KBZ users struggle under junta surveillance
Myanmar Counter-terrorism Law
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of Expression

Myanmar’s “counter-terrorism” by-laws must be denounced for what they are – illegal

19 Apr 2023

Myanmar’s counter-terrorism by-laws will allow the junta to access people’s personal data and tag them as terrorists.

Post
Myanmar’s “counter-terrorism” by-laws must be denounced for what they are – illegal
19 Apr 2023
Myanmar’s “counter-terrorism” by-laws must be denounced for what they are – illegal
header image: pushing back against IMEI registration in Myanmar
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of Expression

The Myanmar junta’s war against Facebook

5 Apr 2023
News
The Myanmar junta’s war against Facebook
Global Voices ↗
5 Apr 2023
The Myanmar junta’s war against Facebook
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition's report unpacks internet shutdowns in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and globally.
Internet Shutdowns
Internet Shutdowns

حجب الإنترنت في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا في سنة 2022: تواصل للانتهاكات والإفلات من العقاب

29 Mar 2023

قامت 11 دولة في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا بفرض عمليات حجب للإنترنت في 37 مناسبة، حيث تصدّرت إيران هذه القائمة من خلال قطعها للإنترنت 18 مرة.

Press Release
حجب الإنترنت في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا في سنة 2022: تواصل للانتهاكات والإفلات من العقاب
29 Mar 2023
حجب الإنترنت في منطقة الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا في سنة 2022: تواصل للانتهاكات والإفلات من العقاب
Access Now and the #KeepItOn coalition's report unpacks internet shutdowns in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and globally.
Internet Shutdowns
Internet Shutdowns

Internet shutdowns in MENA in 2022: continued abuses and impunity

29 Mar 2023

In 2022, authorities across the Middle East and North Africa shutdown the internet 37 times — with Iran hitting the kill switch a staggering 18 times.

Press Release
Internet shutdowns in MENA in 2022: continued abuses and impunity
29 Mar 2023
Internet shutdowns in MENA in 2022: continued abuses and impunity
Digital rights

Access Now and ARTICLE 19: Statement on Myanmar at the 52nd UN Human Rights Council session

23 Mar 2023

Access Now and ARTICLE 19 highlight shutdowns and surveillance in Myanmar at the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council.

Post
Access Now and ARTICLE 19: Statement on Myanmar at the 52nd UN Human Rights Council session
23 Mar 2023
Access Now and ARTICLE 19: Statement on Myanmar at the 52nd UN Human Rights Council session
header image: pushing back against IMEI registration in Myanmar
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of Expression

Myanmar Regime Extends Counterterrorism Law to Block Resistance Funding

17 Mar 2023
News
Myanmar Regime Extends Counterterrorism Law to Block Resistance Funding
The Irrawaddy ↗
17 Mar 2023
Myanmar Regime Extends Counterterrorism Law to Block Resistance Funding
#KeepItOn 2022 Report: Weapons of control, shields of impunity - internet shutdowns in 2022
Internet Shutdowns
Internet Shutdowns

Five years in a row: India is 2022’s biggest internet shutdowns offender

28 Feb 2023

In 2022, India shut down the internet at least 84 times — more than any country, for the fifth consecutive year. Read “Weapons of control, shields of impunity: Internet shutdowns in 2022.”

Press Release
Five years in a row: India is 2022’s biggest internet shutdowns offender
28 Feb 2023
Five years in a row: India is 2022’s biggest internet shutdowns offender