9/24/21, 8:03 PM Hard talk or hate speech? Outlet spreads disinformation and bigotry under guise of political commentary | Frontier Myanmar ISSUES SIGN UP NOW The Myanmar Hard Talk Facebook page, which was taken offline at some point Friday, trafficked in conspiracy theories often targeting the National League for Democracy and Islamic militants. Hard talk or hate speech? Outlet spreads disinformation and bigotry under guise of political commentary OCTOBER 23, 2020    The Myanmar Hard Talk Facebook page took advantage of the grey area between outright disinformation and legitimate political commentary to spread a nationalist, pro-military agenda. By PHONE HTET NAUNG, BANYAR KYAW, ALEX BEATSON and ANDREW NACHEMSON | FRONTIER Combatting online disinformation and misinformation requires navigating a complex environment flush with everything from political commentary and controversial views to outright falsehoods and hate speech, and debate continues over where to draw the line between opinion and disinformation. Some take advantage of this ambiguity, intentionally spreading disinformation and hate speech while defending it as opinion. Enter Myanmar Hard Talk, an unabashedly nationalist, pro-military Facebook page with close ties to a controversial lawmaker from the military-aligned Union Solidarity and Development Party. The page’s creator sought to portray his project as political commentary, but Frontier found that it was frequently posting outright disinformation including content that could inflame racial or religious tensions, and that it associated with known extremists. Facebook had taken action against multiple isolated pieces of content for violating rules after they were reported by Frontier, but the page remained online until some time today, Friday, October 23. https://www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/hard-talk-or-hate-speech-outlet-spread-disinformation-and-bigotry-under-guise-of-political-commentary/ 1/9