11-8-2024 (YANGON) The digital landscape in Myanmar has become increasingly treacherous as the military junta intensifies its efforts to control the flow of information, leaving citizens caught between restricted access and potential cybersecurity threats.
Since the military coup in 2021, Myanmar’s already limited digital infrastructure has faced further constriction. The country, which had been making modest strides in internet connectivity during the brief period of relative openness from 2016 to 2021, now finds itself regressing in terms of digital freedoms.
Recent data paints a stark picture of Myanmar’s digital divide compared to its neighbours. With an internet penetration rate of just 44 per cent and 15 million social media users, Myanmar lags significantly behind countries like Thailand, which boasts an 85 per cent internet penetration rate and over 52 million social media users.
The State Administration Council (SAC), Myanmar’s ruling military junta, has taken drastic measures to curtail online communication. In the wake of the coup, popular platforms such as Facebook – often synonymous with “the internet” in Myanmar – along with other social media sites and messaging applications, were blocked. This move was aimed at severing communication channels for resistance forces and controlling the narrative.
In response, Myanmar’s populace turned en masse to virtual private networks (VPNs) as a means of circumventing censorship. The widespread adoption of VPNs became so ingrained that a popular meme jokingly equated Burmese identity with having 20 VPN applications installed. While an exaggeration, digital rights activists estimate that the average Myanmar citizen has around five VPN applications on their mobile devices.
However, the junta’s recent crackdown on VPN services has created a new crisis. In late May, the Ministry of Transport and Communications ordered a nationwide ban on access to major social media platforms and VPN services. This move, seen as an extrajudicial execution of the controversial Cybersecurity Law drafted in 2022, has been accompanied by physical harassment, with security forces conducting random checks and arrests of individuals found with VPNs on their devices.
The ban on VPNs has inadvertently pushed desperate citizens towards potentially dangerous alternatives. Local experts have reported a surge in phishing links masquerading as new, free VPN services. This trend is particularly alarming given the historically low levels of digital literacy in Myanmar. A pre-coup Unicef report found that only 25 per cent of respondents from Myanmar were learning digital skills at school, compared to at least 50 per cent in other Southeast Asian countries.
The situation is further complicated by the potential exploitation of this digital vulnerability. Some experts suggest that the spread of phishing attacks to the general public could be part of the junta’s strategy to monitor and eliminate emerging threats. Others have hinted at possible collusion with foreign actors, noting that some of the suspicious links contain source code in Burmese or even Chinese.
