3/30/22, 3:07 PM Digitally Fueled Civil Resistance and Repression in Myanmar - Political Violence at a Glance and 2007, when people relied on sparse coverage of the events on radio and satellite television. COUNTERING DIGITAL MOBILIZATION: THE REGIME’S RESPONSE The military regime moved swiftly to curtail the use of Internet technology for anti-coup mobilization, blocking access to social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. When protesters responded by using VPNs (virtual private networks) to access banned social media platforms and migrated to encrypted messaging apps, the regime countered by blocking VPN IP addresses. The regime responses seemed only to delay the growth of protest, as activists found ways around them. The junta, seemingly surprised by the scale of the anti-coup mobilization, finally responded with a nationwide Internet shutdown on February 6, which only catalyzed protests further. The junta’s most recent digital tactic is a nightly Internet curfew modelled on tactics used in Iraq during the 2019 protests and by repressive regimes worldwide. The junta also amended the Electronic Transactions Law, which bolsters already repressive laws regulating online content that have led to the prosecution of activists and journalists. Many of these responses appear as brute force censorship. However, as in most autocracies, the digital sphere in Myanmar was already dominated by pro-government content and misinformation campaigns. Digital surveillance regulations and tools are also widespread. All these measures aim to disrupt the information flow between activists and the international community, and to identify and arrest activist leaders. WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD: MILITARY DICTATORSHIP? DEMOCRACY? ESCALATING POLITICAL VIOLENCE? Research does not lend support for the expectation that digital technology fosters democracy. Nonetheless, democracy activists in Myanmar appear strengthened by digital communication. But as time passes and new, extensive restrictions on Internet use are https://politicalviolenceataglance.org/2021/03/01/digitally-fueled-civil-resistance-and-repression-in-myanmar/ 3/9