[Global Issue+] Myanmar, a Country Where Facebook and the Internet Are Synonymous

27 Million People, Half the Population, Use Facebook
Smartphones Bypass PCs to Drive Social Change
Military That Spread Facebook During Rohingya Oppression Now Blocks It

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] One of the biggest issues recently emerging in relation to the political instability in Myanmar is Facebook. It was reported that the military blocked access to Facebook in some areas of Myanmar as a measure to suppress protests, and Facebook, in turn, announced that it would reduce the distribution of posts made by Myanmar military accounts. Thus, Facebook has become a very important medium in connection with the Myanmar situation. Since half of Myanmar's population uses Facebook, it is said that Facebook is virtually synonymous with the internet there.

According to foreign media such as CNN, starting from the 12th (local time), Facebook decided to permanently suspend Myanmar military official accounts. Rafael Frankel, Facebook's Head of Emerging Markets Policy for Asia Pacific, stated in a press release, "We will reduce the distribution of content from pages and profiles operated by the Myanmar military," pointing out that "such content spreads misinformation about the situation in Myanmar."

Earlier, the Myanmar military blocked access to Facebook in some major cities where protests were actively taking place, which sparked significant backlash. The reason why Myanmar's political instability is so closely linked with Facebook is that more than 27 million people, half of Myanmar's population of about 54 million, use Facebook. This usage rate is overwhelmingly high compared to other Southeast Asian countries.

Myanmar First Accessed the Internet Through Facebook in 2011

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

The reason Facebook began to be used synonymously with the internet in Myanmar is closely related to the early history of internet introduction in the country. Internet started to become widespread among the public in Myanmar from 2011, when the military dictatorship ended and the first civilian government took office. Before that, due to the influence of the military dictatorship and Myanmar being one of the world's poorest countries, very few people had access to computers and modems, which were very expensive, and could use the internet. It was exclusively used by the state and the military.

However, starting in 2011, with the civilian government and market liberalization, inexpensive smartphones began to flood in, and especially as part of Facebook's market entry strategy in Myanmar, Facebook was pre-installed on all phones before sale, leading most people in Myanmar to use Facebook. The Myanmar government also recognized this market situation and conducted most news and policy promotions through Facebook, greatly increasing its influence.

Further Spread Through the Rohingya Crisis... Military Encouraged the Spread

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Another major factor in the widespread use of Facebook in Myanmar was the 'Rohingya oppression.' According to the BBC, after the transfer of power from the military to the civilian government in 2012, conflicts between Myanmar Buddhist monks and Rohingya Muslim communities began to escalate in various places, and monks frequently posted about these situations on Facebook, which led to the Rohingya crisis.

Myanmar is divided into over 140 ethnic groups, but as a Buddhist country where the majority, including the main Bamar ethnic group, practice Buddhism, clashes with the Rohingya Muslim minority became frequent, and the conflicts gradually escalated into terrorism by some Muslim groups. After 2014, some Rohingya armed factions linked with Middle Eastern terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS carried out attacks on police stations and public institutions in Myanmar. These incidents were widely reported across Myanmar via Facebook, causing public outrage.

At that time, the Myanmar military used Facebook to expose the atrocities of the Rohingya, further fueling ethnic conflicts. Eventually, public opinion deteriorated to the extent that Aung San Suu Kyi, a symbol of Myanmar's democratic government, could not ignore the government's and military's oppression of the Rohingya. As a result, following criticism from human rights organizations in the US and Europe and various governments cutting support, Myanmar became completely isolated internationally, and the military's influence grew again.

Myanmar Public Opinion Shifts from Facebook to Bridgefy

Now, as the military begins to block not only Facebook but also the entire internet communication network, Myanmar protesters are moving to other social networking services (SNS). A representative example is Bridgefy, an offline messaging app.

Bridgefy, which served as a messenger for Hong Kong protesters since the 2019 Hong Kong protests, is reportedly gaining great popularity in Myanmar as well. Bridgefy allows users to send messages via Bluetooth to people within 100 meters even without an internet connection, and if there are enough users, messages can be relayed over much longer distances in a hopscotch manner. It is currently serving as a beacon system for Myanmar protesters.

In addition, as protesters continue to find various workarounds, it is expected that the Myanmar military's internet blocking measures will become less effective as the protests prolong.