Exclusive: Myanmar regime using Facebook comments to spread disinformation

Myanmar’s military junta is engaging in a coordinated campaign of disinformation on Facebook, creating networks of fake accounts to post comments supporting the regime and attacking its enemies, according to leaked documents seen by Myanmar Now. While the military had used the platform for propaganda purposes long before seizing power in February 2021, fresh evidence shows that it is now deploying organised “comment campaigns” to influence public opinion. In the aftermath of the coup, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing repeatedly claimed that anti-regime protests were largely fuelled by “false information” and “misleading” online context aimed at “gullible young people.” To counter this, it formed the Department of Media Development under the Ministry of Information (MOI) in late 2022. The department, staffed with more than 50 personnel, was tasked with creating multiple fake Facebook accounts and posting comments favourable to the regime and critical of its opponents. “The military has been doing this since before the coup, but there was no hard evidence,” said Thit Nyan, of the Myanmar Internet Project, a group that monitors the junta’s efforts to control online activity. “Facebook doesn’t actively moderate comments, leaving it to page administrators. The military exploits this loophole to run coordinated comment campaigns,” he added. Myanmar Now reached out to Meta, the company that owns Facebook, for comment on evidence of the regime’s deliberate misuse of the platform, but has yet to receive a response. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and information minister Maung Maung Ohn seen at an anniversary celebration of the Myanmar Radio and Television in Naypyitaw in November 2024 (Photo: Myawaddy [junta media]) A pattern of ‘inauthentic behaviour’ Facebook has acknowledged in official statements since 2018 that Myanmar’s military has engaged in “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” on its platform, posing as news outlets or civilians to push pro-army narratives. The company has removed dozens of such pages and accounts over the years, including several in 2025 linked to calls to end the civil war, attacks on resistance groups, and expressions of support for the junta. However, Facebook’s enforcement has not extended to comment sections, leaving room for the regime’s latest tactic: targeted propaganda through comment flooding. Last month, Myanmar Now obtained leaked internal memos from the junta-controlled MOI. One letter, dated July 1, requested appointments for new officers whose duties included responding to and analysing online content from independent media that “disparages the government” and posting “mobilising comments” disguised as messages from ordinary citizens. The recruitment targeted degree holders in English, international relations, journalism, or psychology, offering a monthly salary of 275,000 kyat—less than US$100. Ministry director Khin Maung Kyi confirmed to Myanmar Now that the positions were being filled through the Union Civil Service Board, but declined to provide further details. Sources said the ministry has struggled to recruit enough full-time staff, forcing it to rely on military families and members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party and their relatives as daily wage workers. The regime reportedly aims to build a 10,000-strong comment force. One leaked letter, signed by the MOI’s deputy permanent secretary Win Kyaw Aung—who last month signed a lobbying contract with US firm DCI—formally authorised the hiring of such personnel for the comment campaign.The Department of Media Development is led by director-general Thida Tin, a former MOI deputy director-general who previously participated in media-related conferences and often criticised Western funding of local media. : Information minister Maung Maung Ohn with his deputy, the director general of the Department of Media Development in the junta-controlled Ministry of Information, at the department’s second anniversary event in November 2024 (Photo: MRTV) Her husband, retired military officer Ko Ko Hlaing, has long been involved in pro-army propaganda campaigns and served as a minister in both quasi-civilian administration of former general Thein Sein and the post-coup junta. Internal complaints have accused Thida Tin of corruption in staff promotions, but no action has been taken, sources said. The department’s staff of just over 50 personnel includes daily wage workers paid as little as 6,800 kyat (about $1.50) per day. Under Thida Tin are deputy director-general Zeya, and directors Aung Myo Thein and Khin Maung Kyi. The department is divided into three main branches—Administration and Finance, Domestic and International Coordination, and Media Development—with nine units in total. The Policy and Research Unit is chiefly responsible for Facebook comment operations. Although the Myanmar junta has formed the so-called Department of Media Development, its name is misleading. Since coming to power in the 2021 coup, the regime has banned independent media outlets, including Myanmar Now, and continues to imprison journalists. Myanmar Now photographer Sai Zaw Thaike has been behind bars since 2023, serving a 20-year sentence simply for working with the banned outlet. Senior officials from the junta’s information ministry seen at the Department of Media Development’s anniversary event in 2024 (Photo: MRTV) How the campaigns work Staff are assigned to monitor independent media outlets such as Myanmar Now, The Irrawaddy, and Mizzima each morning. Each person is expected to maintain two or three fake accounts and to immediately post comments under news items seen as damaging to the junta. “They tell us who will watch which outlet. When a certain type of news appears, we’re instructed to go and comment under it,” said one MOI official. Following Facebook’s removal of many junta-linked pages after the coup, the military shifted much of its propaganda to Telegram and TikTok. But recent changes in Facebook’s moderation policy appear to have encouraged a renewed focus on the platform. Myanmar’s military has run psychological warfare, or “psywar,” campaigns online since at least 2012, targeting political opponents such as Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy. In 2017, before launching its violent clearance operations against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, the military was behind dozens of Facebook pages that spread hate speech about the Muslim minority, according to the UN’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar. Former army officer Zing Yaw, who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement after the coup, said the scale of the operation has grown noticeably in recent years. “They now use fake accounts to post comments under media content in ways that look like ordinary people talking among themselves,” he said. National Unity Government (NUG) officials and digital rights activists have also warned that the volume of coordinated comments has surged since early 2025, with many profiles locked and posting near-identical talking points. “The junta is throwing all its manpower and resources at Facebook,” said blogger and NUG spokesperson Nay Phone Latt. As public support for the military has collapsed since 2021, Facebook has become one of its main battlegrounds for legitimacy—where the war is fought not with bullets, but with words crafted to look like they come from the people themselves.

Exclusive: Myanmar regime using Facebook comments to spread disinformation

Leaked documents reveal the junta is stepping up its efforts to use the social media platform for propaganda purposes

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