Athens Journal of Law July 2022 Nationals Development Party]”.75 Social media had a significant role in stoking the violence: "The force of the propaganda, and its unremitting circulation – not just in its leaflets and statements, but in domestic media of all stripes state-owned and private – left little mental space within the Buddhist communities of Rakhine State to consider the Rohingya as anything but menacing. That image had become a staple of the Rakhine imagination and, it soon became evident, the Buddhist population of Myanmar more broadly". 76 In March 2012, Buddhist monks led attacks on Muslims in Meiktila near Mandalay, resulting in over 14,000 people being displaced.77 Attacks were preceded by Facebook posts describing the local Muslim population as preparing for jihad and urging the government must deal with the Islamic extremists and raid auspicious houses and mosques. 78 Government Response Ibrahim argues that: "the Myanmar regime remains convinced that the Rohingyas are deliberately, and successfully, manipulating international opinion, and has tried to cut off communication links between the Rohingyas and the outside world […] [D]ue to social media and sympathetic external connections this has only been partially successful. In addition, there has been a concerted pattern of excluding aid agencies from the country […]. The regime has come to see any critical mention of the conditions endured by the regime as an attack on the state, and will eagerly revoke access to NGOs if they speak out […].. A number of aid agencies are prepared to comply with government restrictions in order to carry out other work in the region." 79 National League for Democracy (NLD) Government – 2015 to 2020 Whilst 30 million people were Facebook users, media literacy and critical consumption of information in the country remained low.80 The depth of Facebook usage and the general naivety of the users provided optimal conditions for disinformation to thrive.81 The most extreme example was the Rohingya crisis of 2017, where disinformation on social media fanned conflicts between the Buddhists and the Rohingya, resulting in around 860,000 Rohingyas fleeing to Bangladesh. 82 Most remain in refugee camps at the time of writing with no prospect of return in the near future. 75 Ibrahim (2018) at 83. Wade (2017) at 118. 77 Ibrahim (2018) at 86. 78 Ibid. 79 Ibid, at 86-87. 80 Bestle & Lehmann-Jacobsen (2021, 22 April 2022). 81 Ibid. 82 Ibid. 76 317 Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4150894