outlets, eventually expanding to include local media outlets reporting from
Myanmar’s ethnic states and regions.
1 Feb
3 Feb
Internet,
TV, and
radio shut
down
Facebook
blocked
5 Feb
Twitter,
Instagram
blocked
8 Feb
5 media
banned;
VPNs
blocked
13 Feb
14 Feb
Media
websites
blocked
1st
journalist
detained
The blocks remain five years after the coup. This report is focused on the blocks in
place in this electoral year and is based on a robust data set of 198,000 internet
network measurements and 1.8 million indicators collected across Myanmar
between January 2025 and January 2026.4 Each measurement tested if a desired
website was accessible via a particular operator, such as MPT or MyanmarNet, and,
if not, determined both the presence and type of block. Within this framework,
network measurements are treated not merely as technical data, but as evidence of
interference with the right to seek, receive, and impart information as guaranteed
under Article 19 of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
and the Universal Declaration for Human Rights (UDHR), which establish human
rights obligations for the military. These network measurements allow the
disaggregation of the data by time, location, and individual telco to expose the
mechanics of the digital coup in the countdown to
polling day.
The blocking regime relies on total secrecy enforced
by the military. Only 2% of the blocks were
transparent with declaratory pages or known
censorship DNS. The remaining 98% were
effectively secret blocks hidden by technical
anomalies such as TCP resets or DNS tampering,
which made websites appear broken or a connection
appear slow.5
In 98% of cases, the
military hides its
censorship behind
technical anomalies,
gaslighting the public
into believing that the
truth is simply broken
However, by comparing these technical anomalies
against error rates, control data, and the anomalies
faced by pro-military platforms, it becomes clear that they were predominantly
intentional, military-directed interference. This deliberate ambiguity is designed by
4
5
Network measurements were collected by the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI).
These anomalies include DNS tampering, TCP/IP blocking, HTTP blocking, and TLS based interference.
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