country. Placed on top of the hill, it can be seen from almost every part of the city. The Shwe Dagon Pagoda is an instant reminder of the great kingdom Myanmar once were. The fact that it remains untouched from robbery and other schemes reflect the importance of pagodas, and Buddhism in general, amongst the people and politicians. With the pagoda so easily seen, it blends into the skyline, and Hla hardly notices it any longer. She feels a bit hungry and walks past several international restaurants, such as Pizza Company or Lotteria, but she is not up for it. Pizza and burger taste weird to her; she much more prefers the local cuisine with curries and rice or an excellent fresh mohinga, a local noodle soup. She eats her Mohinga and heads home, Hla is tired and longs for a bit relaxation before the last party of Thingyan and a new year. She pulls out her smartphone, scrolls through her Facebook-feed and newspaper headliner from a foreign country might show up. With her work and extensive English skills, she might then read headliners such as; “Facebook bans Myanmar army chief, others in unprecedented move” (Slodkowski, 2018), “Revealed; Facebook hate-speech exploded in Myanmar during Rohingya crisis” (L. Hogan 2018), “Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar” (Stecklow, 2018b). Her attention turns to family and friend’s updates in the feed, as most people would focus on as well. Nevertheless, what happened with Myanmar and Facebook? How come these headlines exist? Moreover, how does the immediate access to Facebook and international news change the playing field for political and everyday life? To be able to understand this, we need to have a closer look at the historical background of the country, and how everything leads up to this “digital crisis.” The Rise of The Military Regime The British colonial heritage is easily recognized in downtown Yangon. When the country in 1948 was considered independent, the country faced one on the most significant challenges after the monarchy collapsed in 1885 (Aung-Thwin & Aung-Thwin, 2013, p. 225). According to their description, the new minister, U Nu, needed to find a way for all the different ethnical groups to unite among one leader. This challenge eventually grew into a civil war, and U Nu´s government did not hold any real power outside the borders of the at the time capital, Yangon. During U Nu´s government, he had to manage the civil war, and at the same time re-build the infrastructure. Yangon was severly damaged during the air raids conducted by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service during WWII. To be able to do so, he looked to foreign countries 40