9/24/21, 8:06 PM Radio Free Myanmar: Disinformation network spreads false news and hate speech | Frontier Myanmar Facebook told Frontier that it is aware of RFM and has “taken action on a number of pieces of content”. “In fact, the first piece of content that we removed under our specific Myanmar elections misinformation policy was content attributed to RFM,” said Mr Rafael Frankel, director of public policy for Facebook in Southeast Asia. According to Facebook, that post falsely claimed that the NLD was replacing its candidates with Rohingya – an attempt to smear the NLD by playing on racial and religious prejudices against the Muslim group. Facebook verified that the post was “misinformation” and removed it as “content that could damage the integrity of the Myanmar election”. U Myint Kyaw, joint secretary of the Myanmar Press Council, called RFM “propaganda”, “psychological warfare” and “fake news”. He said it is “difficult to say” who is behind the RFM content, but in his view they are clearly “trying to gain an advantage for extreme nationalists and the USDP”. He warned that such content could not only influence “decision making” around the election, but even “lead people to violence”. Despite Myint Kyaw’s clear warning, the MPC has not yet added RFM to its list of websites and social media pages it says are peddling “fake news”. A author biography for “Kay Khaing Phyo”, complete with spelling errors and a crudely Photoshopped image. (Frontier) RFM has also caught the attention of digital rights group Myanmar ICT for Development Organization, better known as MIDO, whose fact-checking initiative “Real or Not” flagged RFM as disinformation. Fact checker Ko Thet Min said RFM posts are “spreading in USDP and Tatmadaw groups” but added that MIDO has not been able to confirm if it is directly linked to the military. “Their aim is to distort the ruling party with fake news during the election,” he said. He said the WordPress website appears to have been created in an effort to build RFM’s credibility by making it look like a real news outlet. Content is often bylined and has photographs of the supposed authors, but Thet Min said these profiles were likely fake. The authors include “executive editor Kyaw Zin Win”, which the page claims to have gone to the University of Maryland. The biography for “country correspondant [sic] Kay Khaing Phyo” claims she studied English and political science at the “University of Forein [sic] Language” in Mandalay. MIDO traced the photo of “Kyaw Zin Win” back to a Chinese news outlet – the man in the photo is actually a photographer from Nepal. The photo of “Kay Khaing Phyo”, meanwhile, has clearly been taken from somewhere on the internet, but is so heavily photoshopped – a green Myanmar blouse has been crudely pasted over a red t-shirt that is still visible – that it is difficult to trace with reverse image search technology. https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/radio-free-myanmar-disinformation-network-spreads-false-news-and-hate-speech/ 4/9