ISSUE: 2019 No. 36 ISSN 2335-6677 RESEARCHERS AT ISEAS – YUSOF ISHAK INSTITUTE ANALYSE CURRENT EVENTS Singapore | 9 May 2019 Facebooking in Myanmar: From Hate Speech to Fake News to Partisan Political Communication Nyi Nyi Kyaw* EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  Facebook is the Internet in Myanmar, and it presents both opportunities for and challenges to the government, the opposition, and the people in a country that is in transition.  Facebook has gained notoriety as a platform for hate speech and fake news in Myanmar over the past seven years.  Facebook has removed hundreds of accounts and pages allied with or supportive of the Myanmar military, or engaged in coordinated deceptive behaviour.  The National League for Democracy government has sought to control and regulate social media by establishing a social media monitoring body and preparing a cyber law, but without much impact to date.  Both Facebook’s close monitoring of accounts and defamation suits have made Facebook users in Myanmar more cautious, but supporters of the National League for Democracy, the military and opposition parties still rely heavily on Facebook for partisan political communication. * Nyi Nyi Kyaw was Visiting Fellow in the Myanmar Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute from 3 January 2019 to 2 May 2019. 1