Myanmar’s Military Struggles to Control the Virtual Battlefield Crisis Group Asia Report N°314, 18 May 2021 Page 7 In the eyes of many, Facebook’s move in effect tilted the online battlefield in Rakhine State in favour of Myanmar’s military, which continued to use Facebook, while the insurgency fell back on less popular platforms, such as Twitter, YouTube, WeChat, VK and, more recently, TikTok. Indeed, although Facebook had banned Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing and removed some military pages due to hate speech in 2018, after the Rohingya crisis the previous year, it did not block the Tatmadaw itself from its platform until after the 1 February coup. Facebook told Crisis Group that the Arakan Army’s acts of violence had prompted it to begin a review in December 2018 that found the group met the criteria for being designated a “terrorist organisation”, and therefore banned as a “dangerous organisation” under Facebook rules. The company made this finding due not only to the group’s violent acts targeting civilians, but also to its alleged involvement in the illicit economy and recruitment of minors.26 Other sources, however, told Crisis Group that the decision to ban the Arakan Army was rushed in the wake of the 4 January attacks because the company was concerned about its reputation in the wake of the Rohingya crisis.27 In response to criticism of the ban, particularly from Myanmar civil society, Facebook moderated its policy slightly to allow “praise” for the Arakan Army.28 Facebook users following the conflict in Rakhine State have felt the effects of this policy in several ways. Posts with content related to the Arakan Army are subject to removal for violating community standards as expressions of “praise, support or representation” for a dangerous organisation. Repeated violations result in a person or page being banned or unpublished (ie, removed from public view). Violations can include posts containing the group’s name, the names of its leaders, its logo or its announcements, but also seemingly legitimate political comment about the conflict. Nevertheless, Facebook has not been able to completely remove support for the Rakhine insurgency from its platform. Even a cursory search reveals dozens of accounts containing the words “Arakan Army”, with some of the English characters replaced with accented characters from foreign languages.29 Some of the group’s senior members were able to re-establish a presence on the platform under other names. Since other platforms have not banned it, the Arakan Army uses them (and its own website) as a platform for publishing its statements and propaganda, while seemingly fake accounts are used to redistribute the content on Facebook, in what appears to be a coordinated operation. “When the Arakan Army releases a statement on VK or their website, it pops up on Facebook in minutes”, said one Rakhine activist.30 26 Crisis Group interview, Facebook representative, November 2020. Crisis Group interviews, social media researcher, November 2020; industry source with knowledge of the issue, March 2021. 28 In September 2020, Facebook placed the four Northern Alliance groups in a newly created category called “violent non-state actor”, which still bans them from the platform but allows users to post “praise” of the groups without violating community standards. Crisis Group interview, Facebook representative, November 2020. 29 “Facebook keeps failing in Myanmar”, Foreign Policy, 21 June 2019. 30 Crisis Group interview, Rakhine activist, October 2020. 27