Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar LITERATURE REVIEW This literature review makes use of online, open-source material, and two recent studies conducted by one of the authors (McKay), one of which is unpublished. This review is by no means exhaustive, rather it was intended to signpost and highlight relevant learnings and insights from programmatic studies, academic studies and other relevant initiatives relevant to the design of the current study. The main limitations to the literature review were time permitted, and relevant material that was and was not publicly accessible online. A conscious decision was made to discount literature from before January 2015, given the rapid contextual and technological changes Myanmar has experienced since then. Useful statistics on social media use and hate speech in Myanmar Facebook is, by a substantial margin, the most widely used social media platform in Myanmar. The popular idea that ‘Facebook is the internet’ is so often repeated in relation to Myanmar online use, it’s clichéd (Silverman, 2018). According to one online aggregator, Facebook accounts for 92% of all page referrals, with the closest competitors being YouTube and Pinterest at 2% each (StatCounter Global Stats, 2018). According to Search for Common Ground, an estimated 9.7 million people in Myanmar were registered on Facebook in 2017, a number which doubled since 2015 (Grizelj, 2017). Statistica (2019) reports that the number of Facebook users in Myanmar has since doubled again, totaling 21 million in January 2019. A recent study from Phandeeyar discovered the average joining year was 2012, the average number of Facebook friends was 1,080, and the average user spent almost 3 hours per day on Facebook (McKay, 2017a). Myanmar Facebook’s general user population skews young (84% are reported to be under 35 years; McKay, 2017a). It is also majority male (61%), and urban, with the majority of users clustered around Yangon (33%) and Mandalay (7%). The number of monthly active users in Loikaw (Kayah State) is estimated at between 90,000 and 120,000; in Sittwe (Rakhine State) that same figure falls between 50,000 and 60,000 (Facebook, 2019). Young people are also very active users. In a study of two urban areas – Yangon and Lashio – an estimated 85% of younger users reportedly log on once a day or more, while only 5% report never using social media at all (compared to 30% of older users; Grizelj, 2017). A 2017 report found that young people have misgivings about the platform, however, with over 20% feeling that there are more negative impacts than positive. Respondents in Yangon and Lashio also believed Facebook’s ubiquity increased tensions between their communities, with 55% saying the overall impact is both negative and positive (Grizelj, 2017). One of the most obvious issues to have arisen with Facebook’s sudden spread across Myanmar is the role it plays in the creation and dissemination of fake news and ‘hate speech’. Hate speech can be defined as speech that is intended to foster hatred against groups based on race, religion, gender, sexual preference, national origin, or other traits. At the least it fosters hatred and discrimination, and at its worst it promotes violence and killing (Aall, 2011). A 2017 study identified 150 separate Facebook pages producing and/or sharing hate speech content, with 120 being classed as ‘active producers’ of content (Search For Common Ground, 2017). Recent Myanmar studies of particular relevance to the scoping study This section reviews the methodology and key findings from three recent studies undertaken in Myanmar, which are highly relevant to the questions guiding the current study. These were chosen as they were recent (conducted in the last 3 years), designed in whole or in part to gain insights into social media use in Myanmar, and use a mix of methodological approaches. This is followed by a review of recent relevant academic work conducted in Myanmar, and a rapid scan of relevant programmatic and academic research conducted internationally. 14