ASIAN ETHNICITY https://doi.org/10.1080/14631369.2021.1951596 ARTICLE Empowering or endangering minorities? Facebook, language, and identity in Myanmar Myat The-Thitsar Global Studies Program, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Language policies play a major role in ethnic conflict because they affect the right of speakers to choose and use their preferred language(s), and help determine courses of action to maintain, assert or defend such rights. There has been insufficient analysis on the role of social media, particularly Facebook, in strengthening or undermining the survival of minority languages and collective identity in multi-ethnic countries. This paper uses Myanmar as a case study to demonstrate the extent to which Facebook lan­ guage policies influence language use practices of minorities in Myanmar. While Facebook’s selection of Burmese as a ‘Facebook language’ has privileged the use of Myanmar’s majority language at the expense of its minority languages, it has simultaneously pro­ vided opportunities for ethnic minorities to preserve and promote their languages and cultures. Received 27 April 2021 Accepted 31 May 2021 KEYWORDS Social media; Facebook; minority languages; nation building; Myanmar Introduction What happens when Facebook is introduced in countries with a long history of ethnic conflict, civil war, entrenched military rule, and media censorship? How has Facebook been used by members of minority ethnic groups in ethnically divided countries? What kind of benefits are provided to speakers of ‘Facebook languages,’ or the languages officially recognized by the platform, and do such benefits come at the expense of non-Facebook language speakers? A copious amount of scholarly work has already shed light on the significant role played by language policies in ethnic conflicts. Some of this scholarship shows that countries which adopt and prioritize languages spoken by the majority group in governments, schools, or markets often face resistance by minority groups who view these policies as a threat to their survival and wellbeing, since language is closely associated with group identity.1 Scholars have so far largely confined their analysis of these language policies to government, state authorities, private institutions, and civil society actors.2 As a result, very little attention has been paid to the role of technology and social media in shaping the nature and intensity of inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic relationships. While numerous studies have assessed the role of Facebook in fuelling communal hostility through the spread of hate speech and violence, we still lack knowledge about the role of Facebook in strengthening or undermining minority languages and cultures. CONTACT Myat The-Thitsar MyatThe_Thitsar@uml.edu; myatthe.thitsar@emref.org Political Science Department, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Global Studies Program,