8 Policy Brief No. 78 Toda Peace Institute Official accounts, pages and groups: Both the military and Ma Ba Tha maintained an active official presence on the platform, until Facebook banned their respective use in 2018. Most leaders had their own accounts, giving them access to up to 5,000 ‘friends’ and hundreds of thousands of ‘followers’. In addition to running active accounts, both groups also used institutional pages and groups to carry their message. By the end of 2017, the official page of Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing had over 1.3 million followers, while his office page counted over 2.7 million. Wirathu—one of Ma Ba Tha’s most well-known monks—achieved a following of over 400,000. Despite being a well-known hate figure, and being sanctioned several times, Wirathu was able to find his way back to the platform on multiple separate occasions, before he was permanently banned in January 2018. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing official page Commander-in-Chief’s office page Fake accounts and ‘alternative’ presence: The military and Ma Ba Tha also operated covert presences, allowing them to amplify their messaging, and engage in covert activity. This included the use of fake accounts, as well as ‘alternative’ pages and groups – which though not acknowledging their affiliation, engaged in the repeated and systematic sharing of the groups’ content and messaging. A New York Times investigation found, for example, that the military was behind a large number of entertainment pages, which would include misinformation and propaganda amongst otherwise trivial content, such as celebrity gossip or health and beauty tips. Facebook confirmed the existence of such covert operations, taking down a total of five