International Journal of Communication 13(2019) Extreme Speech in Myanmar 3215 such as Facebook have been widely acknowledged, in this article I have argued that, while regulators internationally have actively considered the role of social media platforms like Facebook in spreading extreme speech, events in Myanmar suggest it is time they also considered what steps can be taken to address extreme speech originating from official state media sources. The role of the state, and official state media sources, in the production of extreme speech is thus important to understand in the context of global online research. Incorporating the role of government-initiated and published speech into the theoretical framework of extreme speech allows for greater understanding of how climates of violence and hostility are generated across different media environments in different parts of the world. In Myanmar’s case, the consequences of the authorities’ use of state media to securitize the Rakhine State situation are being felt acutely throughout the region—more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees fled Myanmar for Bangladesh. This risks destabilizing neighboring Bangladesh, whose border areas are now home to more than 1 million desperate Rohingya refugees. This population is already known to be at risk of exploitation by migration and sex traffickers and may now be at risk of exploitation by international jihadi groups (Arnold, 2017). Extending the concept of extreme speech to also include actions by state actors using official media ought to be a concern for critical scholarship because the consequences of extreme speech by authorities can be grave, particularly for minority groups (Article 19, 2015). For groups like the Rohingya, the consequences of failing to address this have already been shown to be devastating. References About us: Brief history. (2014). Global New Light of Myanmar. Retrieved from http://www.globalnewlightofmyanmar.com/about-us/ Allott, A. (1993). Inked over, ripped out: Burmese storytellers and the censors. New York, NY: Pen American Center. Amnesty International. (1992, May). Union of Myanmar (Burma): Human rights abuses against Muslims in the Rakhine (Arakan) state. London, UK: Amnesty International. Amnesty International. (2016). New expression meets old repression: Ending the cycle of political arrests and imprisonment in Myanmar. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/ASA1634302016ENGLISH.PDF Amnesty International. (2017). Caged without a roof. Retrieved from https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/11/myanmar-rohingya-trapped-in-dehumanisingapartheid-regime/