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internet services through its Myanmar Net brand. Concerns about Frontiir's involvement in internet censorship in Myanmar were raised in 2020, when it was revealed that the company was blocking access to websites on the Myanmar government's orders.46 Like other ISPs, Frontiir shut off the internet in the commercial hubs of Yangon, Mandalay and the capital Naypyidaw on the military's orders on the day of its coup attempt. Since then, it has periodically blocked social media platforms, including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, as well as independent media and civil society sites including Justice For Myanmar. Frontiir is backed by governments that have otherwise condemned the military's coup attempt and commission of international crimes, through development finance. These include investments into Frontiir of US$26 million from British International Investments (BII); 26.9 million Norwegian krone (US$3 million) from Norway's Norfund, and 70.1 million Danish krone (US$10.5 million) from Denmark's Impact Fund (IFU). All of the investments have been made since 2019 – after the UK, Norway and the European Union imposed sanctions barring their companies from providing surveillance equipment to Myanmar. ISP Frontiir denied that they have Geedge hardware on site in response to an investigation by Finance Uncovered and Myanmar Now.47 InterSecLab and Justice For Myanmar both conclude that, based on the Geedge dataset, these denials are false. In a reply to Justice For Myanmar, IFU responded, “together with the other investors, we are in dialogue with Frontiir regarding the situation and strive to ensure that they meet the requirements we have set and that they safeguard employee safety and customer data security. The provided information will be taken into consideration.” A spokesperson for BII said, "we are in regular dialogue with Frontiir regarding customer data security. The information you provided will be reviewed carefully.” Campana Mythic Company Limited Established in 2014, Campana is a multinational data network infrastructure operator. It has implemented Geedge systems at its data centre in Yangon. The company is privately owned and operates network and infrastructure in Singapore, Myanmar and Thailand. Campana Mythic received a license to operate in Myanmar in 2015.48 Campana Mythic is a subsidiary of the Singapore company 21

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Silk Road of Surveillance: The role of China's Geedge Networks and Myanmar telecommunications operators in the junta's digital terror campaign

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Burmese
English

Topic

Digital Rights
Digital Surveillance
Internet Restrictions
Military Coup

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Justice for Myanmar

Date Published: Sep 9, 2025

Abstract: A new leaked dataset reveals the Chinese company Geedge Networks’ business in Myanmar and exposes a significant number of telecommunications companies that are implementing sophisticated surveillance and censorship technology on behalf of the illegal Myanmar military junta. The leaked dataset offers detailed insights into the inner workings of Chinese internet surveillance and censorship technology that is exported to Myanmar by a company that frames its work as associated with China's Belt and Road Initiative. The dataset has been reviewed by a coalition of media and non-governmental/civil society organisations through the Great Firewall Export project made up of Amnesty International, InterSecLab, the Globe and Mail, Paper Trail Media, Tor Project, DER STANDARD, and Follow The Money. The Internet in Myanmar since the military’s February 2021 illegal coup attempt is among the most restricted in the world. The rolling out of a commercialised version of China’s Great Firewall gives the junta unprecedented access to and control over the online activities of 33.4 million internet users in Myanmar. Notably, the hardware, software and support provided by Geedge Networks to the Myanmar military junta enables the tracking of network traffic at the individual level and can identify the geographic location of mobile subscribers in real time by linking their activity to specific cell identifiers (cell IDs). As such, the junta has an enhanced capability to effectively track down, arrest, torture and kill human rights defenders, journalists and revolutionary forces across the country. The military junta can do so with the direct assistance of telecommunications companies in Myanmar exposed in the dataset – including ATOM (formerly Telenor Myanmar), Mytel, Myanma Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), Ooredoo Myanmar, Frontiir, StreamNet , Golden TMH Telecom, Internet Maekhong Network (IM-Net), Myanmar Broadband Telecom (MBT), Myanmar Telecommunication Network (MTN), Campana, Global Technology Group and China Unicom – that are integral to the set-up of a national firewall for the Myanmar junta. This investigation into the business dealings of Geedge Networks with the Myanmar junta builds on a June 2024 report by Justice For Myanmar into how Geedge was initiating country-wide internet surveillance and censorship through the junta-controlled Information Technology and Cyber Security Department (ITCSD) of the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC). 1 By providing hardware and software to the illegal Myanmar military junta, Geedge may be aiding and abetting in the commission of crimes against humanity, including the acts of torture and killing, carried out by members of the junta within a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population. Further investigation is required on this. In the meantime, Geedge Networks is limiting the rights to freedom of expression, association, and digital movement of the people of Myanmar. For that reason, Geedge Networks should be targeted with international sanctions, and individuals in directive and leadership positions within the company should be investigated for aiding and abetting violations of international human rights laws and potentially also international crimes. Telecommunications companies identified in the Geedge dataset as supporting the junta’s online surveillance machinery should be held to account for the serious risks of online and offline violence, and de facto harms such as arrests, torture and killings, of Myanmar civilians. Geedge Networks is closely affiliated with the Chinese state and export of its systems to Myanmar align with the Belt and Road Initiative. China’s involvement in the mass surveillance and repression of the civilian population in Myanmar is part of a broader pattern in which the Chinese government remains a principal supplier of arms to the Myanmar junta, aiding and abetting the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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Silk Road of Surveillance: The role of China's Geedge Networks and Myanmar telecommunications operators in the junta's digital terror campaign

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