Amid the grim footage of military violence against civilians in Myanmar, protesters’ satirical signs have made their own headlines. Often written in English and ranging from “Use condoms, don’t let people like Min Aung Hlaing be born again” to “I want Kim Nam Joon [a rapper from the popular K-pop group BTS], not a dictatorship,” these statements have attracted attention from international netizens by using humor and referencing pop culture. Activists have also proactively published social media content in multiple languages using the hashtags #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar and #WhatsHappeningInThailand to boost coverage of events on the ground. In Thailand, protesters have drawn parallels between their struggle against the militaryled government and other literary narratives to mobilize support. In Thailand, human rights lawyer Anon Nampha was the first to publicly question the monarchy’s role in Thai politics during an August 2020 protest with the theme “Harry Potter vs. He Who Must Not Be Named.” In a country where ordinary citizens have been jailed for offenses as minor as criticizing the late king’s dog, this was seen as a turning point that emboldened protesters to openly call for reforming the monarchy. Anon was arrested shortly after the protest and charged with lèse-majesté and sedition on February 9. Although he is currently being held without bail alongside three other protest leaders, demonstrators have continued to defy a ban on public gatherings to call for their release. The three-finger salute from the bestselling book and movie series The Hunger Games is the movement’s most famously co-opted symbol. The gesture first emerged in Thai protests after the 2014 military coup and has since spread to the recent demonstrations in Myanmar. The country’s envoy to the United Nations, Kyaw Moe Tun, even flashed the salute during his final speech to the UN General Assembly on February 27 before he was fired by the junta. It has become a common fixture in Thai and Burmese protests as a symbol of solidarity and defiance against authoritarian governments and political elites. While past protests have been dismissed as internal matters, the scope and coverage of these demonstrations on social media have succeeded in raising awareness and concern at the international level. On March 10, the UN Security Council released a statement unanimously calling for a reversal of the coup and condemning the military’s violence against protesters. Even China, which has often used its seat on the council to shield Myanmar from condemnation and initially referred to the coup as a cabinet reshuffle, stressed the importance of “de-escalation, diplomacy, and dialogue.” Since the United Nations has traditionally refrained from intervening in member countries’ domestic affairs, the statement sent a strong sign to the military that the international community will not turn a blind eye to the events in Myanmar. The Turn to Digital Repression As the protests in Myanmar and Thailand have inspired each other with similar tactics and symbols, the militaries of the two countries have also responded in similar ways: with more advanced digital surveillance and online repression. 2/4