B7: အွန်လင ိF း် သတင်းအချက်အလက် နယ်ပယ်တင ွ ် ေထွြပားစံလ F င်မ, ကင်းမဲ့ေနပါသလား။ (၀-၄ မ4တ)် ၁ မ4တ ် B7: Does the online information landscape lack diversity? (0–4 points) 1 Myanmar’s online environment is less diverse and reliable as a result of the February 2021 coup. Most independent Burmese-language media outlets were not directly accessible within Myanmar due to content restrictions (see B1). Media outlets active in Myanmar have had to reduce their capacity in response to being banned and exiled.176 Some new media outlets emerged, many of them providing local information to small communities and staffed by former employees of shuttered or exiled media outlets.177 All outlets found fact-checking and verification harder because journalists could not easily travel and had no access to official responses from the authorities.178 Diversity in Myanmar’s online sphere has also been reduced due to the in-country dominance of Facebook and has been further impacted by its blocking.179 In 2020, 78 percent of mobile users had never used an internet browser or app store, with most users accessing the internet via Facebook apps on their mobile phones.180 Global Witness research published in June 2021 found that Facebook’s pagerecommendation algorithm had been amplifying military content that violated many of its own policies (see B5).181 Some media outlets lost income originating from their YouTube and Facebook activity over the past year due to both the platforms’ policies and their responses to the coup.182 For example, outlets operating in exile have been unable to access funds generated on Facebook because of restrictions requiring them to maintain a presence in their home country.183 The absence of reliable information has facilitated the spread of false and misleading content. Before the coup, rumors about ethnic and religious minorities, political leaders, and the COVID-19 pandemic were rife.184 Since the coup, particularly prevalent rumors have addressed the status of detained NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi,185 impending internet shutdowns,186 bank fraud,187 the likelihood of violent crackdowns by the military,188 deepfake technology,189 and the role of China’s government in supporting the coup.190 Before the coup, the NLD government also tried to limit the diversity of information available to the public by overseeing and sometimes leading attempts to marginalize media outlets critical of official narratives. For example, in 2019 the military requested that the media refrain from saying “civil war” when referring to the country’s internal conflicts.191 Such pressure, unhindered and indeed supported by the NLD government, led the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) to withdraw from country-based partnerships in 2017 and 2018, respectively, in order to protect their editorial freedom.192 ် ပ်မ/ - ြမန်မာ2ိင 4 င ် ံ Free Expression Myanmar (FEM) and Freedom House - Freedom of the Net: Myanmar - အင်တာနက်ေပ*တွင် လွတလ