Table of Contents Executive Summary................................................................................................................... i I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. Rakhine: A Test Run for Repression ................................................................................ 4 A. The Arakan Army: Sowing the Seeds of an Insurgency............................................. 4 B. The State Fights Back ................................................................................................ 8 III. The Erosion of Data Privacy and Online Freedoms under the NLD ............................... 11 IV. The Post-coup Technology War ....................................................................................... 14 A. Targeted Measures Fail.............................................................................................. 14 B. Falling Back on Blunt Tools ....................................................................................... 16 C. Propaganda Fail on Social Media .............................................................................. 19 D. A Strategic Dilemma .................................................................................................. 23 V. What Role for International Actors? ................................................................................ 26 A. Restricting the Military’s “Digital Toolkit for Repression” ....................................... 26 B. Keeping Myanmar’s Internet Open and Its Users Safe ............................................. 27 C. Investing and Operating Responsibly ....................................................................... 28 D. Improving Social Media Moderation and Policies ................................................... 29 VI. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 31 APPENDICES A. Map of Rakhine State ....................................................................................................... 32 B. About the International Crisis Group .............................................................................. 33 C. Crisis Group Reports and Briefings on Asia since 2018 .................................................. 34 D. Crisis Group Board of Trustees ........................................................................................ 36