Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar METHODOLOGY Objectives The overall objective of this scoping study was to examine the impact of social media use on young people living in conflict-affected regions of Myanmar. Rather than examine overall digital access and literacy, the study focused on how young people engage with issues of hate speech, propaganda, fake news, rumours, incitement to violence, and the impact of that engagement on young people’s on- and offline emotional well-being, attitudes, and behaviours. The study findings will be used to inform the development of youth-focused digital and media literacy materials to support good digital citizenship, foster critical thinking skills, and encourage empathy and tolerance online. These digital and media literacy materials will be used as part of Save the Children Myanmar’s SHIFT project. SHIFT is an innovative youth-led digital campaigning platform offering youth groups the resources, funding, and mentorship necessary to drive their own issue campaigns in their communities. All participants of SHIFT will undergo a two-day digital and media literacy training program to learn how to stay safe online, analyse content critically, and digitally connect with their peers across the country. The study was designed to leverage the flexibility of qualitative research tools. Guided focus group discussions (FGDs) were supplemented by structured observation and child-friendly participatory methods. A brief social media use survey and key informant interviews (KIIs) with young people, parents, teachers, and community leaders were used to gather additional contextual data. Primary research questions The key questions that guided the current study were as follows: 1. How do young people perceive/view Facebook and other forms of social media (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, WeChat, WhatsApp, blogs, etc.)? How do young people use different types of social media, and for what purposes? 2. What kinds of online content and social media messages are young people sharing, and why? What barriers/challenges do young people face in using social media? 3. How do young people think social media affects their thoughts, feelings, behaviours and/or attitudes? What kinds of impacts does social media have on their psychological well-being? 4. Do young people trust what they see and read on social media? Why or why not? Do they check the accuracy of the information they receive online, and if so how? How do young people judge the accuracy or truthfulness of online content and social media messages? 5. Do young people feel that what they do on social media has an impact? What kinds of impacts? 6. What are the most common forms of hate speech and threat narratives in Myanmar? What are the experiences of young people regarding hate speech on social media, and how does it make them feel? What do they think of it and how do they react to it? How does hate speech/propaganda/fake news impact on their behaviour and attitudes? Does it lead to feelings of out-group bias? 7. What is the impact so far of local anti-hate speech campaigns such as Panzagar (flower speech) on Facebook? Who can be positive influencers for young people online? To answer these research questions, the following guiding questions were devised by the Research Advisor in consultation with the Research Lead and Academic Partner. They were divided into seven areas of interest to structure the FGDs and KIIs. At the analysis stage, ‘hate speech and harassment’ was split into two separate areas of interest due to the high volume of responses and divergent themes that emerged. 23