Vol. 8, No. 3 Smith & Smith: Use and Abuse of Social Media in Myanmar between… in Myanmar use VPNs to access Facebook, […] any individual or business that posted on Facebook could in effect be creating evidence of a crime”. 66 Even encouraging the use of VPNs could result in imprisonment of up to three years or a fine.67 A penalty of from one to three years or a fine applies to “[a]ny person who is convicted of creating misinformation and disinformation with the intent of causing public panic, loss of trust or social division on cyberspace”. 68 In 2021 the prison term was up to three years with no minimum set.69 At the time of writing (in May 2022), the status of the current draft was unknown. This section has provided the legal framework in which social media operates if the current 2013 Telecommunications Law was policed and how the Tatmadaw intends to change the law to counter dissent. The following section will look at the social media landscape from the country’s opening up in 2010 to 2022, the second year of the current military rule. Social Media Landscape in Myanmar Facebook is the social media platform of choice for most of Myanmar’s population, “about 90 percent of whom use mobile phones to get news and other information”.70 Country in transition – 2010 to 2014 Extremist Buddhist monks in Myanmar have coalesced around the 969 Movement and the Ma Ba Tha.71 Both organisations seek to preserve the primacy of Buddhism in Myanmar and revile Muslims. Their best-known leader is Ashin U Wirathu, a monk from Mandalay who is well known for his extremist views.72 A particular target of the movements is the Rohingyas, whom they claim are Bengalis and not citizens of Myanmar, although they may have lived in Myanmar for generations. 73 The year 2012 saw significant violence break out in Rakhine state against the Rohingya.74 Violence appeared to be a “consequence of the deliberate actions and planning of the extremist monks and political parties such as the RNDP [Rakhine 66 Free Expression Myanmar (2022). S. 89(c) of the new draft. 68 S. 91 of the new draft 69 Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business (2021) at 10. 70 Radio Free Asia. (2020). 71 Ibrahim (2018) at 67-70. 72 Ibid, at 67. 73 For a detail discussion of this issue see Ibrahim (2018) and Wade (2017). 74 Ibrahim (2018) at 79-86 and Wade (2017) at 98-122. 67 316 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4150894