5/17/22, 11:25 PM Myanmar’s post-coup Internet: dangers and alternatives However, a week after the panel, Global Witness released a report showing how Facebook’s algorithms continue to amplify harmful content in Myanmar. Global Witness documented the extreme ease by which Facebook users can access content that conveys support for Myanmar’s junta and death threats against protesters, some of whose names and photographs circulate on the site. This content violates the community standards that Facebook professes to uphold. Such complexities speak to how difficult it is for anyone, including those in the digital rights sector and Facebook itself, to obtain a comprehensive picture of the platform’s impact on society. It is entirely possible that despite the targeted strategies highlighted by Saijai and Myo, Facebook remains betrayed by its own algorithm. Moreover, the panel did not have time to consider the relationship between ethnic conflict and Facebook, which is beset by even more complexities. There is a dearth of information in this respect, too. Many pre-coup observers zeroed in on the Rohingya crisis, overlooking how social media and the internet affect other embattled ethnic groups. Therefore, Alex’s point to consider how tech leaders can redress massive power inequalities between themselves and their clientele remains salient. Tech companies should take their role in perpetuating power inequalities seriously, and ensure that they can listen to their users. Some first steps could be to hire sufficient staff conversant in Myanmar’s numerous ethnic languages and to engage with digital rights groups across the country. Finally, Saijai called for donors not to be let off the hook. The preceding discussion has shown how Myanmar’s anti-coup digital culture has not evolved in isolation; rather, it has responded to the coup regime’s control of print media, its desire to remain “open for business”, and the tenacity of Myanmar’s protesters. Similarly, the endurance of an anti-coup digital culture depends on the extent to which people remain healthy and retain their livelihoods outside of the virtual realm. For instance, people’s access to alternatives to the SAC’s education system, such as the newly developed Virtual Federal University and the Spring University Myanmar, depend on their ability to pay for smartphones and VPNs. The panellists also foregrounded the need to plug existing knowledge gaps. They called for donors to fund investigations into the state’s surveillance capacity and the role that tech companies play in Myanmar’s post-coup society and economy. Donors should adapt, not leave, and remain flexible in response to the changing political situation, including difficulties in obtaining cash. ‘There are many organisations on the ground doing good work,’ said Saijai. The question is whether these organisations can remain connected to one another and to the people reaching out to them. [1] All three panellists consent to being named in this piece. [2] Phyu Phyu Kyaw’s analysis of blocked websites is based on research done by the Open Observatory of Network Interference. Interference. (Featured image used with permission from @new.songje) https://teacircleoxford.com/essay/myanmars-post-coup-internet-dangers-and-alternatives/ 7/11