tools needed to reach them. The strategy ensured that even the most determined and tech-savvy members of the public were met with significant barriers, reinforcing the information vacuum during the country’s most sensitive political window. The role of telcos in blocking the media Implementation of the blocking regime required the active or coerced participation of telecommunications companies (telcos). In Myanmar, the internet network is owned and run by about 120 licensed telcos, half of which are consumer-facing and half infrastructural.10 A few telcos are State-owned operating under direct military control including MPT, which owns much of the national infrastructure and runs a large mobile phone service, and Mytel, a mobile phone telco. The majority of telcos are privately-owned, some of which are led by individuals with close ties to the military leadership commonly known as “cronies”. Regardless of ownership, the military requires all licensed telcos to implement its orders including blocking demands. The military keeps its blocking regime extremely secretive. Military orders are issued as directives through the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MoTC) and are protected by the Official Secrets Act which includes severe prison terms for anybody caught whistleblowing. Differences between State and private telcos Telcos have been Network measurements show that there were some transformed from differences in the telcos’ implementation of military orders. While the average rate of blocking large connectivity providers independent media during the election countdown into the enforcers of was 93%, some telcos blocked more. State-owned State-sponsored and military-controlled MPT maintained a 100% blockade and military-owned Mytel reached 98%. isolation This indicates that telcos are not neutral infrastructure providers but have become active participants in the military’s suppression of fundamental rights. In general, private telcos enforced the military blocks to a similar extent as the Stateowned telcos. However, several individual telcos may have interpreted the orders 10 This does not include those telcos operating in the opposition-held territories of Myanmar such as Starlink. Page 13 of 17