DEMOCRACY DISCONNECTED: SOCIAL MEDIA’S CAUSTIC INFLUENCE ON SOUTHEAST ASIA’S FRAGILE REPUBLICS power for decades.44 In late 2014, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to issue an emergency decree that rescinded legislation that had eliminated direct elections for provincial governors, district chiefs, and mayors after an online outcry from outraged citizens. Even in Vietnam, which remains under one-party rule, the power of social media has been felt after online campaigns successfully forced the government’s hand on multiple high-profile environmental issues.45 These noteworthy success stories aside, however, social media’s most significant contribution to the region probably has been to facilitate the mundane, everyday communication among families that, often divided by distance, would otherwise be out of touch. While social media has served as a powerful tool to bring people together, it has also found use as a wedge to drive them apart. In a region marked by a diverse array of ethnic and religious groups living in close proximity, communal tensions have long been a fact of life. Among the many conflicts that dominate the politics of the region, perhaps none have been as caustic as that between the Buddhist and Muslim communities. In recent years, tensions have hit a boiling point in Myanmar at the same time that social media has been making inroads. The ongoing violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, which has resulted in an outflow of some 700,000 ethnic Rohingya Muslims to neighboring Bangladesh, epitomizes the magnifying effect that new technology is having on old conflicts.46 There is little doubt that Facebook has played a central role in stoking communal violence in Myanmar. The use of social media to spread rumors and Islamophobic rhetoric sparked limited bouts of violence in 2012 and 2014.47 Facebook in particular has served as a platform to disseminate hate speech directed at the country’s Muslim community writ large and lists have been distributed online of companies, organizations, and individuals accused of attacking Buddhism.48 Most recently, the country’s military has come under international censure for allegedly committing atrocities in Rakhine State in response to a small-scale attack on military outposts in August 2017 by a group calling itself the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), perpetuating violence that broke out the previous October. During a press conference in March 2018 to announce the interim findings of a U.N. fact-finding mission on the situation, the chairman, Marzuki Darusman, told reporters that social media had “substantively contributed to the level of acrimony” toward the Rohingya.49 Although perhaps only coincidental, Facebook’s Free Basics service in Myanmar was quietly terminated in September 2017 just as violence was ratcheting up in the country, a move that was officially part of a broader regulatory effort by the government to avert unfair competition practices in the telecommunications market.50 44 Colin Meyn, “Virtual Democracy,” Southeast Asia Globe, November 11, 2013, http://sea-globe.com/virtualdemocracy-social-media-elections-cambodia-cpp-cnrp/. 45 Gwen Robinson et al., “Social Media Revolution is Tough to ‘Like’ for Southeast Asian Governments,” Nikkei Asian Review, September 15, 2016, https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Social-media-revolution-is-tough-to-like-forSoutheast-Asian-governments. 46 Julhas Alam, “Rohingya in Camp Tell Myanmar Official They Survived Attacks,” Associated Press, April 12, 2018, https://apnews.com/47d6d9ede1974461a99ceb80d138e993. 47 Gwen Robinson et al., “Social Media Revolution is Tough to ‘Like’.” 48 “Southeast Asian Governments Struggle to Cope with the Online Social Revolution,” Nikkei Asian Review, September 15, 2016, https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Southeast-Asian-governments-struggle-to-cope-with-theonline-social-revolution. 49 Tom Miles, “U.N. Investigators Cite Facebook Role in Myanmar Crisis,” Reuters, March 12, 2018, https:// www.reuters.com/article/us-myanmar-rohingya-facebook/u-n-investigators-cite-facebook-role-in-myanmar-crisisidUSKCN1GO2PN. 50 Mariella Moon, “Facebook’s Free Basics Quietly Pulled from Myanmar, Other Markets,” Engadget, May 2, 2018, Foreign Policy at Brookings | 11