time information, to stay safe. A related factor is online repression via legal measures to suppress free speech and gain access to user data to locate and prosecute opponents.39 Additionally, intimidation tactics, online and offline, and violence against opponents – be it political actors, civil society actors or ordinary civilians – have spread fear and deterred online criticism and offline activism. Nonetheless, this has not stopped the movement, which has continued with civilians taking up arms and going underground, and the diaspora playing a big role in fundraising and in keeping the movement alive through various creative online events to build solidarity and continue the resistance.40 However, moving forward, challenges will remain for social media companies in Myanmar. Although Facebook has begun to take greater responsibility in Myanmar, issues such as fake news and disinformation are rampant on the platform. Similarly, Twitter has not acted on disinformation in Myanmar along the lines of its response to the 2020 US elections. In such a situation, social media companies are on a collision course with governments for several reasons. First, they are spaces of hope and for freedom of expression for embattled citizens, as we are seeing in Myanmar and India. On the other hand, their lack of power and accountability makes governments uncomfortable – and rightly so. Social media companies have a huge responsibility in ensuring the Internet remains free, open and accurate, and haven’t lived up to this responsibility very well. However, excessive restrictions, such as Internet shutdowns in Myanmar and the new information technology rules in India, are indicative of government overreach and efforts to control media narratives, weaken opposing forces, stifle free speech and endanger users’ privacy. These measures erode the government’s legitimacy and move it further away from the democratic goals and aspirations of its own people. As the Myanmar military has realised, it cannot just put the social media and Internet genies back in the bottle and has certainly lost the war in terms of winning the hearts and minds of its people. ..... Dr Anuradha Rao is the Founder of CyberCognizanz, Singapore, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), an autonomous research institute at the National University of Singapore. She can be contacted at anuradha.rao@cybercognizanz.com. Ms Archana Atmakuri is an independent researcher and was a former Research Analyst at ISAS. She can be contacted at archana.atmakuri64@gmail.com. The authors bear full responsibility for the facts cited and opinions expressed in this paper. 39 40 International Crisis Group, Myanmar’s military struggles to control the virtual battlefield, Report No. 314, 18 May 2021, https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-east-asia/myanmar/314-myanmars-militarystruggles-control-virtual-battlefield. Suyin Haynes, “Myanmar’s Artists Captured the Spirit of the Resistance. Now They’re Continuing the Fight from Abroad”, Time, 22 June 2021, https://time.com/6074482/myanmar-artist-resistance/. 11 Institute of South Asian Studies | National University of Singapore | 29 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, #08-06 (Block B), Singapore 119620 Tel: (65) 6516 4239 | Fax: (65) 6776 7505 | www.isas.nus.edu.sg | http://southasiandiaspora.org