Executive Summary
Since the 2021 coup, the military has systematically made access to media a high-risk activity for the public. This report, one of a series on media freedom up to and during the 2025-26 sham elections, analyses 12 billion Facebook data points and reveals the impact of military shutdowns, blocks, and surveillance, more expensive data, and platform algorithms on media audiences.
Key Findings
Media outlets increased their total Facebook output by +18% despite the criminalisation of journalism, with regional media production growing by +108% since the coup.
Military-enforced internet shutdowns, blocks, and rising data costs, combined with platform algorithm changes, have cut public access to media by -48% in a systematic act of censorship.
The public has avoided military propaganda, with views of military-affiliated media falling by -76% in favour of more independent reporting.
Extensive digital surveillance has caused shares and comments on media posts to drop by -63% and -42%, in a sign of mass public self-censorship.
The digital public square is becoming polarised, as views of more impartial media fell by -70%, and people increasingly sought partisan echo chambers.
While the military has failed to control the media, it has succeeded in turning a universal human right into a high-risk and costly activity. Reclaiming this digital space is no longer just a matter of media survival, but a necessity for the survival of the public’s right to information.