5/24/22, 7:56 PM Myanmar: World's Longest Internet Shutdown Ruins Lives | Time Try TIME at half price Only THB134.50 per month People in Parts of Myanmar Are Living Under the World's Longest Internet Shutdown. It's Putting Lives in Danger A family displaced by armed conflict between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army sits at a temporary shelter in Hlegu Township on the outskirts of Yangon on June 25, 2020. Shwe Paw Mya Tin—NurPhoto/Getty Images IDEAS BY KYAW HSAN HLAING NOVEMBER 16, 2020 2:40 AM EST Kyaw Hsan Hlaing grew up in Myanmar’s conflict-torn Rakhine State where his family and friends are among more than 1.4 million people affected by a prolonged internet ban. In place since June 2019 in parts of Rakhine and neighboring Chin State, the ban was imposed by the government amid escalating fighting with an ethnic armed group. Human rights groups have criticized the shutdown for hampering access to information about COVID-19, as well as making it harder to distribute food and medical aid to civilians displaced by the conflict. This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. I first accessed the internet in 2014. I was 18 years old and living in my family’s home in Myanmar’s westernmost Rakhine State. After a half-century of isolation during the military junta, my country was finally opening up. https://time.com/5910040/myanmar-internet-ban-rakhine/ 1/4