Chinese technology capable of mass surveillance 'installed' by Myanmar internet company funded by UK — Finance Uncovered 5/22/25, 11:56 AM Pressed by reporters, spokespeople for the UK, Norwegian and Danish development funds all said Frontiir had assured them it was not enabling surveillance by Myanmar’s junta or handing over data on its users to authorities. “To date, we have seen no evidence that the Myanmar government has accessed the Frontiir network to intercept or decrypt communications,” said a spokesperson for the BII, adding the company had assured them it has “never been subject to interception”. He defended the BII’s decision to invest in Frontiir, even after questions were raised about its network blocking websites on government orders in 2020. “The rationale for investing $3 million in 2020 was the same as for making the earlier investment – to accelerate the rollout of vital internet services to millions of people,” he said. Norfund said it had been monitoring its stake via its investment partner, which said Frontiir had assured them it does not host a surveillance system that can decrypt web traffic or correlate web traffic to users’ private data. “We are aware of the challenging situation Frontiir is in, and we are monitoring the situation, but we have to this date not seen any evidence that gives us reason to doubt what the company is telling us,” said a Norfund spokesperson. The IFU echoed the other funds in its responses, saying Frontiir had assured the fund that it had never provided user information to authorities or installed any system that “can monitor and decrypt any encrypted data”. As a result, a spokesperson said, “we have not identified compelling arguments to suggest that relinquishing our equity stake in the company would contribute positively to the situation in Myanmar.” Joseph Wilde-Ramsing, an expert on the human rights obligations of international companies from SOMO in the Netherlands, described the investors’ responses as weak. He said he believes the UK, Norway and Denmark are failing to enforce the OECD’s guidelines on responsible business in their dealings with Frontiir. Under those rules, which are legally binding for all three OECD members, he said investors have a responsibility to use whatever leverage they have to prevent companies violating human rights. “In Myanmar, we’re talking about people getting killed, arrested and kidnapped, so the burden for how quickly companies need to act, transparency and the robustness they must show, is high,” Wilde-Ramsing said. In written statements sent to reporters, BII, Norfund and IFU said they followed OECD guidelines. Main image: Frontiir's headquarters in Yangon (Kan Kaung/Myanmar Now) *Edited by Nick Mathiason and Ted Jeory https://www.financeuncovered.org/stories/british-norwegian-and-danis…litary-run-myanmar-which-hosts-notorious-chinese-surveillance-system Page 9 of 12