ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship
“Regime” and “Junta”: The Key Words
Leading to Media Licence Revocation
unrest and threatening the country’s sovereignty
The post-coup crackdown on free media came
the monitoring.
after the military repeatedly threatened to revoke
media licences if they continued using the words
“regime” or “junta.”73 While many private news media
companies have been banned for disobeying the
junta’s commands, those who attempt to remain
operational have faced strict censorship that blocks
the report of any news on the NUG and which use
the terms “coup,”74 “military government” and even
“military coup.” The digital and print publishing licences
of five domestic outlets (Myanmar Now, Khit Thit
media, Democratic Voice of Burma, Mizzima, and 7
Day) were cancelled and their offices raided.75 They
have been banned from publishing, broadcasting,
and transmitting information via online and offline
means. Most now operate from exile. By the end of
2022, more than 20 media groups, including press
agencies, publishing houses and printing works, have
been banned since the start of the coup in February
2021.76 More recently, Ayeyarwaddy Times licence
was revoked by the junta in June 2023. At the end
of October 2023,77 the military junta closed down
the independent media Development Media Group.
Soe Win Aung, the night watchman, was arrested
during the search of their offices by soldiers, while
the rest of the staff went into hiding. Without giving
any explanation, the military junta sealed the media
company’s offices and confiscated several cameras
and laptops. The media, an organisation covering
conflict and human rights abuses in the western
state of Rakhine, had already been the subject of
defamation suits by the junta since the start of the
coup in 2021.78
there was any oversight procedure to complement
Doxxing and Harassment of ProDemocracy Activists, Women Activists,
and HRDs
In the puzzle of digital oppression in Myanmar, doxxing
is one piece. Doxxing is the action of “publishing
private information about someone on the internet
without their permission”.80 The information can
include revealing names, addresses and be used
to harass people. Pro-democracy activists and
HRDs are subjected to doxxing, as retribution for
denouncing the junta’s suppression of critical voices
and sharing about the plight of Myanmar’s people.81
The Telegram channel Han Nyein Oo, particularly
well-known with 73,238 subscribers in August 2022,
stands out. It regularly broadcasts the Facebook
profiles and personal details of alleged resistance
supporters. On several occasions, arrests have been
reported, affecting individuals whose information and
locations were shared in these messaging groups.82
For instance, Ye Htut, mentioned earlier in this
text, was arrested a few days after the pro-military
Telegram account leaked his address and urged the
military to arrest him.83 Women activists and HRDs
are particularly targeted by pro-junta accounts that
use hateful, sexualised, and discriminatory language
in an attempt to discredit them and silence their
voices.84 This trend is reflected in the wave of hatred
directed at women activists following the showing
of the film “Don’t expect anything”. The 12-year-old
girl, the protagonist of this film directed by Swiss
filmmaker Didier Nusbaumer, is at the heart of the
Online freedom has been steadily deteriorating in
Myanmar even prior to the coup. The Social Media
Monitoring Team established under the Ministry of
Transport and Communications monitored online
activities for the purpose of–as it claimed–preventing
foreigners and foreign organisations from causing
194
through interference.79 It remains unclear whether
controversy. According to the military junta,85 the
film is perceived as blasphemy against the Buddhist
religion. However, the Buddhist monk U Kovida
said that he did not see any insult in Nusbaumer’s
statements. It should be noted that the 12-year-old
actress, the entire cast and the director were arrested
Dawn of Digital Dictatorship: Weaponizing the Law Against Online Speech in Southeast Asia
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