Military-Ruled Myanmar Falls to Bottom of Internet Freedom Ranking – The Diplomat 10/23/24, 10:29 AM prodemocracy activists and armed resistance groups,” the report states. “In May 2024, the military introduced new censorship technology to block most VPNs, cutting residents o! from tools they had relied on to safely and securely bypass internet controls.” The ranking speaks to the constriction of Myanmar’s information landscape since the February 2021 coup, which terminated a period of political reform that saw the emergence of a rambunctious press and growing openness to the outside world, including via digital channels. It is perhaps no surprise that Myanmar attained its highest score (40) on the Freedom on the Net report in 2014, two years after the abolition of pre-publication press censorship. This was also the year that cheap mobile phone SIM cards went on sale, spurring a rapid expansion of mobile internet access. While Myanmar represented a particularly black spot in the report, the regional outlook was hardly encouraging, with no other Southeast Asian nation falling into the “free” https://thediplomat.com/2024/10/military-ruled-myanmar-falls-to-bottom-of-internet-freedom-ranking/ Page 4 of 7