No. 355 – 28 October 2021 The Role of Social Media in Myanmar’s CDM: Strengths, Limitations and Perspectives from India Anuradha Rao and Archana Atmakuri Summary On 1 February 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power in an unconstitutional coup, overthrowing the Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy government. Following the coup, the country experienced mass protests against the military, which continued offline and online despite the detention of about 8,000 citizens by the military since February 2021. Social media has played an integral role in this citizen-led protest movement, also known as the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). This paper examines the ways in which social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter, has influenced the CDM, as well as its strengths and limitations. Additionally, it discusses India’s response to the coup and the CDM – both the official response as well as reactions from netizens. Introduction Myanmar’s “Spring Revolution”, a culmination of citizen-led protests against the military takeover of power on 1 February 2021, has continued despite the authorities’ efforts to suppress it. The sudden takeover of power resulted in vociferous public anger against the military (also known as the Tatmadaw) and an outpouring of public support for Aung San Suu Kyi, the de-facto head of the overthrown government. Suu Kyi, also known as “The Lady”, has long been a symbol of hope for the people of Myanmar under decades of military rule, and her arrest produced a wave of social media-fuelled protests, known also as the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Like other protest movements in recent times, social media has also played a crucial role in the genesis and persistence of the CDM. In this paper, we examine the ways in which social media, specifically Facebook and Twitter, has influenced the movement, as well as its strengths and limitations in sustaining the movement. Further, India has been closely watching the events unfold in Myanmar, and we look at India’s response to the coup and the CDM – both the official response as well as reactions by netizens — against the backdrop of an ongoing power struggle between the Indian government and tech/social media companies. To begin with, we provide some contextual information about the problematic role of social media, particularly Facebook, in Myanmar vis-à-vis democracy, elections and human rights, and how this influences the current protest movement. We also examine Twitter for two reasons: a) it has been less studied as a social media platform in Myanmar; and b) it has served as an alternative to Facebook since the coup, emerging as a preferred platform for activism and dissent. 1