A/HRC/56/CRP.8 C. Gendered online attacks and harassment 114. Targeted attacks also extend to the online sphere. Since the coup, women and LGBT activists have regularly been targeted with violent threats, sexualized harassment, and the release of personal information. Much of this activity has occurred on Telegram, which, since the coup, has emerged as the favored platform for military operatives and supporters. A quantitative study of 1.6 million Telegram posts by Myanmar Witness found that the prevalence of politically motivated, online abuse of Myanmar women was five times greater at the end of 2022 than prior to the coup.65 115. Telegram and other social media platforms are regularly used to “doxx” individuals tied to the resistance movement, meaning publishing personal information such as addresses, phone numbers, or the identity of family members. Pro-military accounts often encourage followers to widely share the information and call for investigations of the targeted individuals, sometimes leading to their arrest. Accounts, many of which have malepresenting profiles, have also urged followers to physically attack targeted individuals for alleged alignment with pro-democracy activities. In some cases, pro-military accounts appear to be coordinating with or controlled by SAC authorities. 116. Women human rights defenders and pro-democracy actors have also been subject to sexualized harassment including through the release of sexually explicit images and sexualized and discriminatory rhetoric meant to discredit them publicly. Online posts have described women supporters of the pro-democracy movement as morally corrupt or promiscuous, alleged sexual relationships with opposition fighters and foreigners, and stated that women are pregnant out of wedlock due to their alleged promiscuity and associations with opposition groups. 117. Women have also been attacked online on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation as well as their perceived attitudes towards Muslims, including Rohingya. Some Telegram accounts have promoted narratives around the sexual relations of targeted women and Muslim men as way to tap into discriminatory rhetoric, shame targets, and incite anger. These narratives are grounded in anti-Muslim, ultranationalist propaganda and reinforce cultural gender norms and expectations of women. 118. The Special Rapporteur has spoken with civil society actors, including women and members of Myanmar’s LGBT community, who have been personally impacted by online attacks, including by having their homes arbitrarily searched by junta authorities and their families threatened. Some have gone into hiding because of a fear of violence or arrest or have fled abroad or to areas controlled by resistance actors. Many women have censored themselves in public discussions and retreated from public life after being harassed online. 119. In March 2023, the Special Rapporteur wrote to Telegram concerning the use of its platform to spread violent, threatening, and sexualized content targeting women prodemocracy activists, human rights defenders, and others.66 Telegram did not respond to the letter and has yet to systematically address the problem. 65 66 28 Myanmar Witness, “Digital Battlegrounds: Politically Motivated Abuse of Myanmar Women Online,” January 2023, https://www.myanmarwitness.org/reports/digital-battlegrounds. The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Joint letter to Telegram, AL OTH 12/2023, 9 March 2023, https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=27891.