5/25/22, 2:03 PM Myanmar tightens censorship of internet post-election | The Myanmar Times Two women browse the web on their mobile phones. Photo: Aung Htay Hlaing/The Myanmar Times Myanmar tightens censorship of internet post-election Myanmar’s government has ordered mobile operators to introduce filtering to censor specific keywords across the internet and block access to another three websites. The measure to tighten online censorship was put in place days after the November 8 elections. The directive was issued to telco operators on November 10 and involves, for the first time, the order to filter specific words, which would lead to the blocking of any sites mentioning those words. Best Tours in Phuket Book Now Simba Sea Trips U Myo Swe, director general of Directorate of Telecommunications under the civilian government, said the instruction was requested by one of the military-controlled ministries without providing further details. He declined to name the websites blocked and keywords banned, citing confidentiality. Non-compliance would incur punishment based on the Telecommunications Law, U Myo Swe warned. The Tatmadaw appoints and controls defence, internal affairs and border affairs ministries, a privilege guaranteed by Myanmar’s junta-crafted constitution. Norway’s Telenor, one of Myanmar’s four telco operators, said it removed the websites “under protest” but has not complied with the filtering request. Best Tours in Phuket Book Now Simba Sea Trips “We understand the intent of this is to also block any future websites containing specific keywords related to the mentioned websites,” said Jo Eikeland Roald, Telenor’s head of corporate strategy and communications. “While the authorities of Myanmar have legal basis to order such directives, the practice appears to be incompatible with international human rights law,” Telenor Myanmar said in a statement, referring to Section 77 of the Telecommunications Law. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-tightens-censorship-internet-post-election.html 2/6