his content was much more anti-NLD than anti-military. Asked about the name, he again insisted that he is critical of both sides, but after the interview changed his handle to “kokophyoewei”. Since the coup, Phyo Wai Win has received threatening messages from pro-democracy supporters and been labelled adalan, or military informer. He said Shwe Yupar Oo has faced similar threats, with pro-democracy activists allegedly livestreaming in front of her home, threatening to kill her and destroy her car. She now has security provided by the military, according to Phyo Wai Win. These are likely not idle threats. The NUG reported that 87 associates or officials of the military regime had been killed during the month of July alone. “In the conflict over the seizure of power, there is a group who motivated young people to die, to risk their lives on the streets. I do not like that group,” Phyo Wai Win said of the NUG during the interview with Frontier in August. In contrast, he did not condemn the Tatmadaw for its killing of more than 1,000 unarmed protesters. No regulation A fact-checker working for Think Before You Trust, a group that debunks false news on social media, said the organisation has noticed an uptick in Telegram channels spreading disinformation, and cited many of the same accounts Frontier had flagged. Many posts spread false news about armed resistance, and many others attempt to refute reports from independent media outlets. The factchecker, who asked not to be named for her safety, said the Sergeant Phoe Si account, for example, has been “known as a military lobbyist on Facebook for the past four or five years.” Another pro-military Telegram account targets women from the pro-democracy movement, often sexually harassing them online by posting sexually explicit images of activists. The channel only has around 8,000 subscribers, but some of its posts have received over 40,000 views, indicating the posts are likely being forwarded within private chats. One post on this channel shared images of a dead anti-military activist’s body, who had fallen to her death while attempting to evade arrest. Her skirt had ridden up to expose some of her body, which the Telegram user mocked in sexually suggestive ways. This channel has since been blocked by Telegram for some users, with an in-app notice saying it “can’t be displayed because it was used to spread pornographic content”, but it remains accessible to other users. Telegram did not respond to requests for comment from Frontier on this, or any other issue raised in this article. The fact-checker confirmed that many Facebook accounts that have been shut down are still posting on Telegram, largely because the platform is much less regulated than Facebook. The source said Telegram channels are a “good place to spread fake news and misinformation because you can write whatever you want”. But disinformation and hate speech is only part of the Telegram story. Many internet users in Myanmar have started using Telegram since the coup because it is perceived as more secure than WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger, and has not been blocked by the authorities. Another advantage of Telegram is that, unlike Signal – another popular option for those concerned about digital security – it does not require users to make their phone number public. “The military cannot track what we say online,” said one activist. “One of the problems with Signal is that we have to open an account with a phone number, so the military council can follow us. They have the phones of many activists. If someone is arrested during a protest, they will try to track us down through those phones.” Anti-military users have also taken advantage of Telegram’s channel function, which has been abused by disinformation peddlers to send false news out to many people at once. Pro-democracy journalist Mratt Kyaw Thu, for example, regularly posts news on his Telegram channel, where he has nearly 190,000 subscribers, far more than any of the pro-military accounts Frontier viewed.