CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 DISCUSSION Myanmar’s Gen Z have spent the majority of their adult lives living through a period of gradual, if imperfect, democratic expansion, through which they have experienced, to greater or lesser degrees, growing FoE. This has been in no small part linked to the increased access to and use of the internet. A significant percentage of Myanmar’s youth population have internet access and are active social media users. A focus on digital literacy in recent years by various actors, including INGO’s, CSO’s and the government, has not been without effect, particularly with regards to social media platforms and online behavior. Users demonstrate an increasing understanding of harmful practices, such as cyberbullying, hate speech, fake news, propaganda and misinformation, and how to report these. Facebook’s ‘Community Standards’ are of note for the role they have played in shaping what can or cannot be said or done on social media platforms in recent years. Gen Z also demonstrate a growing understanding of how to use the internet in their favor, accessing information, entertainment, promotion, creative expression and to explore their identities. Despite the sudden – and for many young users, new levels of – repression faced following the military coup, youth have demonstrated a readiness to adapt to the situation, with little compromise on their right to FoE. While fear of arrest has necessitated selective self-censorship, youth have expressed a willingness to navigate through and assume risk to exercise their right. How have they managed this? Through the adoption of ‘security minded’ behavior. Increased digital security practices such as hiding personal details, using messaging applications with endto-end encryption such as Signal or Telegram, or the use of VPN’s and TOR to access the internet, youth have taken a variety of measures to minimize the risks they have been facing. They also practice vigilance with regards to their online connections and interactions. Part of this practice includes the careful vetting of social media profiles, with users identified as ‘dalan’ declared as such across relevant internet platforms for all to see. Propaganda and fake news are scrutinized and similarly exposed online. Youth have been offering peer to peer support on what technologies to use and how to use them. In the weeks immediately following the coup and while protests were still taking place offline, messaging platforms and GPS were used extensively to coordinate, report on ‘dangerous’ situations, places to avoid and where to take refuge. Once offline activity was restricted, new forms of protest and civil disobedience grew online. Digital platforms have been used to raise funds for the CDM and PDF, to share information and content in support of the resistance and for creative expression. When both independent media and the internet were being shut down, alternative sources for the sharing of news fast emerged in the form of printed newsletters, and SMS mass messaging. The internet has also been used to build solidarity and community across geographical and other divides, and users have shown up in vast numbers in support of each other and their shared future. Six months into the coup and during a peak in COVID-19 cases and critical shortages of medical assistance, the way users utilized social media platforms was key in organizing distribution and access to vital medical supplies and up-to-date information around the clock. While, as several participants pointed out, it is true that sophisticated surveillance technology and a target on one’s back can render many if not most digital security precautions useless, the research has found that on a day-to-day basis, censorship can be bypassed, digital restrictions can be circumvented, and societal norms can be ‘ignored’. Youth in numbers can still exercise considerable agency in the online space, for good and for bad. Individual perceptions on what FoE means and where to draw the lines are the first and most important line of action when envisioning a free, expressive (not harmful) diverse and tolerant, digital culture moving forward. 41