The Myanmar junta has arrested more than 1,800 people for expressing opposition to its rule and supporting the resistance movement online since it announced a crackdown nearly three years ago.
Independent research group Data for Myanmar said in a recent report that from February 2022 to October 2024, the junta arrested 1,840 people for online criticism, 657 of them women.
The arrests were reported across 223 townships but most of them in Yangon and Mandalay regions.
The junta has consistently targeted online platforms and social media channels by imposing internet shutdowns, blocking access to social media platforms like Facebook, imposing restrictions on virtual private networks (VPNs), and conducting online surveillance to control and monitor online activities.
Its online surveillance campaign has seen a growing number of people jailed, face arrest, lose their property, become targets of prosecution, and flee their homes.
The junta not only monitors online posts but also conducts physical checks at security checkpoints, inspecting phones and arresting individuals based on the online content they access. Pro-military Telegram channels have also been used to gather and share personal information (a practice known as doxing) to pressure and facilitate the arrest of online users for their posts, the report added.
This year alone, at least 351 people were arrested for anti-regime posts, comments and shares on social media, with Yangon and Mandalay remaining the hotspots, the research group said.
In January 2022, the junta announced that anyone inciting, spreading propaganda, or making threats on social networks could be prosecuted under various laws, including the Anti-Terrorism Law, incitement and treason charges, and the Electronic Communications Act.
In a recent study by U.S.-based research group Freedom House, Myanmar was tied with China for the world’s worst record on internet freedom.
Data for Myanmar urged online users to take precautions to ensure their personal information remains secure when using digital planforms, especially before traveling. Such measures typically include taking a “clean” phone with them that can be shown at military checkpoints and leaving their main phone at home.
It also called on relevant organizations to protect individual rights to freedom of expression and safeguard their personal data.
