BSR | Human Rights Impact Assessment: Facebook in Myanmar 12 percent in services, and 7 percent in industry.13 As of 2016, Myanmar ranks 145 out of 188 countries in human development, according to the Human Development Index.14 Myanmar has been a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 1997. In August 2018, the UN Human Rights Council published an advanced, unedited version of its Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar report into the alleged recent human rights violations by military and security forces in Myanmar, in particular in Rakhine State. The mission concluded that serious crimes under international law had been committed that warrant criminal investigation and prosecution.15 BSR does not repeat here the thorough assessments of the human rights context in Myanmar contained in publicly available reports. For more depth, readers can refer to reports published by the Business AntiCorruption Portal,16 Freedom House (both Freedom in the World17 and Freedom on the Net18), Global Information Society Watch,19 Human Rights Watch,20 the UN Human Rights Council,21 and the U.S. State Department.22 These reports were key sources for the BSR assessment and surfaced the following key issue areas for BSR to focus on: freedom of expression; privacy; security; nondiscrimination; child rights; standard of living; and access to culture. 3.2 THE INTERNET IN MYANMAR Before 2013, and after decades of state control, Myanmar was a rumor-filled society at every level, and free speech was virtually nonexistent. Since then, Myanmar has moved very rapidly from being a closed society to one with millions of internet users, and this rapid transition provides essential context for our HRIA. For the majority of Myanmar’s 20 million internet-connected citizens, Facebook is the internet.23 Less than 1 percent of the country’s 50 million people had a smartphone or home internet in 2009, but access increased exponentially when the country opened up in 2011, especially following the liberalization of the telecom sector.24 This has resulted in a crisis of digital literacy: A large population of internet users lacks basic understanding of how to use a browser, how to set up an email address and access an email account, and how to navigate and make judgments on online content. Despite this, most mobile phones sold in the country come preloaded with Facebook. According to the Digital in 2018 report, 34 percent of Myanmar’s population of 53 million people use the internet. Of those, 73 percent use mobile phones (an increase of 4 percent from 2017), while just 26 percent use laptops or desktops (a reduction of 7 percent from 2017). There are approximately 20 million Facebook users as of January 2018—equivalent to internet penetration—which is an increase of 29 13 CIA, 2018. UNDP, 2016. OHCHR, 2018. 16 GAN Business Anti-Corruption Portal, accessed August 2018. 17 Freedom House, 2018. 18 Freedom House, 2017. 19 Global Information Society Watch, 2017. 20 Human Rights Watch, accessed August 2018. 21 OHCHR, accessed August 2018. 22 US Department of State, 2017. 23 We Are Social, 2018. According to the Digital in 2018 report and derived from sources including Internet Worldstats, ITU, Eurostat, CIA World Factbook, Mideastmedia.org, Facebook, government officials, regulatory authorities, and reputable media. 24 The Word Bank data, individuals using the Internet as percentage of population in Myanmar, accessed August 2018. 14 15