Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar Some participants check the comments of the post or ask whether the story is real in the comments. Participants have also reported to have checked with friends or people they know with relevant experience (e.g., if a story is about something that happened in a particular town, they will ask someone they know from that town). Only a few participants reported not checking to verify if news is real, with some urban participants responding that they ‘just decide for themselves’ whether the news is real or not. “I read the news from beginning to end and then decide if this is possible or not.” Female, 21 years, Maramagyi Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) When asked about young people and their ability to differentiate between fake and real news, the majority suggested that a great proportion of young people cannot do this well. “Most young people easily trust what they see and they will post bad comments.” 21-26 years, Rakhine Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “Fake news can influence the perception of young people and cause misunderstandings that can lead to negative consequences.” Male, 23 years, Maramagyi Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) While one participant suggested that young people will stick to what they believe despite what they have read, most thought that fake news had an impact on young people’s beliefs about what is happening around them. “During the Rakhine and Kalar conflict, we got a news that 500 or 1000 ARSA soldiers were coming from the west door [Myanmar-Bangladesh border], so we had to assign guards for the village for about a month. In our area, the phone signal is not good, and this kind of fake news really caused trouble for us.” Male, 22 years, Maramagyi Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “One time, I shared a post of a YBS bus [where it was] written ‘Taw Tar tway ma Htine Ya’ (‘Villager can’t sit on this seat’) but as I did not know the truth I claimed that ‘look they are discriminating [against] us’. But one of the teachers explained that it was photoshopped. It intended to incite misunderstandings.” F (teacher), 18 years, Rohingya Muslim, Thet Kel Pyin, (Rakhine State IDP) The sharing of videos depicting negative behaviours by people from other cultures was also said to negatively impact on young people and influence their behaviour towards certain groups. Some participants mentioned hate speech and propaganda being distributed to stir a fear of Muslims, resulting in panicked reactions from the Rakhine community. “In 2012 just before Rakhine and Muslim conflict escalated, some DVDs were distributed to villages in Rakhine State. The villagers would come together to watch the DVD. The video showed terrorists from other countries beheading people. It doesn’t have anything to do with the situation in our country. But people became traumatised and scared of the Muslim people from this. The Muslims were also scared of Rakhine people. Although Rakhine people are in large numbers, when they heard a bicycle horn of a Muslim pass by, the Rakhine women would sit down and cry [in fear] holding their children. They became really traumatized from watching those DVDs.” Male, 26 years, Rakhine Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) 50