Mobile Myanmar: The Impact of Social Media on Young People Living in Conflict-Affected Regions of Myanmar “Some influential figures can counter fake news immediately after it was spread. Without social media, it will be difficult to find a way to counter fake news.” Male, 29 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) “I have seen some by Dr. Aye Maung but not so sure about what they said.” Male, 20 years, Rakhine Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “A writer, Wai Han Aung, who is promoting peace. Many young people like him as well.” Male, 20 years, Rakhine Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) “I saw people who post about peace and ‘Stop War’ on their pages. Some of these people are interested in politics and they try to counter hate speech.” Female, 22 years, Rakhine Buddhist, Sittwe (Rakhine State urban) Few Muslim IDP respondents were aware of influential people working against hate speech, but they were vocal about the need for this. One participant believed that the Government should be playing a bigger role in countering hate speech, rather than focusing only on addressing criticisms of the government itself. “There are very few pages working to counter hate speech. There are some doing this, but they are not effective because the messages that they want to give don’t reach those who spread hate speech. I think ordinary citizens can’t address hate speech, but government should manage this. Government have formed many committees. It should form another committee made up of technical experts to take action on those who spread hate speech and propaganda on social media. It should think about the type of action needed, whether they will prosecute the wrong doers or educate them. The Myanmar government doesn’t have any plan for this. They only think about taking legal action against people who criticize or denounce their government department. I am not sure how they find out about those who criticized them.” Male, 29 years, Rohingya Muslim, Basara (Rakhine State IDP) Online harassment Experiences regarding online harassment on social media varied between regions. The vast majority of Kayah respondents (particularly those rural based) said they had not come across or heard about online harassment in their region. However, given the number of examples the came out of the Kayah focus group participants, it is likely that the Kayah interviewees either did not consider these examples to be harassment, or they were too embarrassed to discuss them (a theme that also came out of the FGDs). In contrast, nearly every respondent from Rakhine (especially Muslim IDP respondents) had heard a story of online harassment, although none disclosed any personal stories involving themselves. Most stories involved young girls as the victim, and in many cases the perpetrator was an ex-boyfriend. The most common types of harassment were defamation, blackmail, and image-based abuse, often involving photoshopped images of young girls’ faces on the bodies of others, all of which are considered online sexual harassment. There was also an example of so-called ‘revenge porn’. Several respondents referred to the use of fake accounts, used to either post a harassing message, or to pose as a young girl using a stolen or photoshopped image. “I think there is, but it is a very little percentage in this state. There are cases like people using your picture in an inappropriate way that harms your dignity.” Male, 34 years, Kayan Christian, Loikaw (Kayah State urban) 71