Matt Schissler buildings razed51. Soon after, smaller outbreaks of violence spread to other areas of Myanmar.52 When violence spread to another area, the feeling of tension in my neighbourhood in western Yangon was palpable. That night, our questions had a felt urgency: Were there really riots in other townships, as we had heard? Were homes being looted in the southern end of our neighbourhood, at that very moment? As we stood on the street and discussed these things that night, we had agreed to watch and listen and warn each other if needed. I had shared information from a news story just published that evening, saying that the rumors of riots in the other township were spreading but untrue. But how could one really know, and plan appropriately? The news media was unreliable, referencing a government source would prompt derisive laughter; accessing dependable information was difficult. What sources could be trusted? We had all felt more secure when an auntie on our block announced that she had spoken with friends in the area in question. “I called my friend who works in the market there,” the auntie told us. “She closed her shop but she said there is no fighting.”53 Social media in general, and Facebook in particular, simulates these old forms of discourse to an uncanny degree. What is Facebook if not an online forum for spreading information word-of-mouth, click-byclick? One interacts with “friends” on Facebook, after all, who make comments and post links. The information shared via Facebook may be rumor or may be ‘news,’ but it always comes from friends and is stamped with their imprimatur of truth. News stories and state propaganda may still be beyond credulity, but they gain credibility when transmitted by friends and family. The latest incarnation of Facebook adds to this still, by aggregating posts by “friends” discussing the same topic. In real life, information gains credibility through repetition.54 This can take time, and time can serve as a filter. On Facebook, repetition can happen in seconds. It is not just rumors that are shared; Facebook is used to share and monitor information from formal media and other organized authorities, just as formal media and organized authorities use it to disseminate this information. The monk who wished to criticize the American diplomats at the conference on religious harmony, for example, did so in response to a message distributed on the Facebook account used by the US Embassy.55 He follows them on Facebook; they regularly update their account. U Wirathu has nearly 30,000 Facebook followers.56 New technologies, meanwhile, enable speakers to reinforce the in-built credibility of word-of-mouth information with YouTube videos, photographs, and links to other information sources. For example, earlier in the same day after the violence in Meiktila, a friend had emailed me a Facebook link to a video of men speaking Burmese and threatening revenge for violence against Muslims. “The Muslims are going to be really angry now,” he had said as he called to make sure I had seen the video. “I just want to let you know to please be careful.” The video was clearly a fake, and in a Facebook post a few days later I wondered why it had been taken seriously in spite of its hackneyed dubbing and low quality.57 At other times, I have had real-life debates about the likely veracity of such videos, often with neighbourhood friends that share my scepticism but nonetheless feel compelled by the emotional pull of the footage. In May 2013 a video was making the rounds, purporting to be of a Buddhist beheaded by Muslim extremists 51 Human Rights Watch, Burma: Satellite Images Detail Destruction in Meiktila (Human Rights Watch, April 1, 2013), http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/04/01/burma-satellite-images-detail-destruction-meiktila. 52 Jessica Phelan, “Myanmar: Anti-Muslim Violence Spreads Beyond Meikhtila,” Global Post, March 25, 2013, http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/myanmar/130325/myanmar-sectarian-violencemeikhtila. 53 After this Facebook post generated considerable discussion, it was repurposed for a blog post on New Mandala. See, Schissler, “Everyday Ethnic Tensions in Myanmar.” 54 Ian Maynard Begg, Ann Anas, and Suzanne Farinacci, “Dissociation of Processes in Belief: Source Recollection, Statement Familiarity, and the Illusion of Truth,” Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1992. 55 Schissler, “Sleeping Dogs.” 56 Long, “Monk Expands Teachings.” 57 Schissler, “Everyday Ethnic Tensions in Myanmar.” 11/13