Myanmar junta cracking down on efforts to work around internet controls

Internet service providers in Myanmar are coming under growing pressure from the country’s military regime to prevent users from accessing information about the struggle to end its rule. According to telecoms operators, the junta has threatened to cut off internet services unless providers block Virtual Private Network (VPN) software commonly used to work around a ban on social media and local independent media websites. “They are forcing us to block certain sites, not just Facebook,” said an engineer for a local mobile telecoms company. “They sent us a notice letter, saying they’ll cut off internet services if we don’t block VPNs.” Myanmar Now reached out to several internet service providers for comment about the crackdown on VPNs, but did not receive a response. VPN software is used to encrypt internet users’ personal data by hiding their Internet Protocol, or IP, address, allowing them to unblock websites and firewalls on the internet. However, telecoms operators can employ various means to block or restrict masked IP addresses transmitted by known VPN servers—something the junta has been pressuring them to do since early January. The regime is especially interested in preventing users from accessing Facebook, which is the most popular platform for groups sharing information about anti-junta activities around the country. It also plays a crucial role in facilitating communication among regime opponents and their supporters, who often use it for fundraising campaigns aimed at bolstering resistance efforts. Also targeted are independent media outlets such as Myanmar Now, which is among a number of news organisations that were banned soon after the military seized power in February 2021. Since the junta ban on VPN usage, there has been a sharp decline in audience interaction and news consumption on Facebook, according to data shown on CrowdTangle, a content discovery and social-media monitoring platform. The move has also impacted online shopping businesses that use Facebook, prompting some based in Myanmar to urge their customers to switch to messaging apps like Telegram and Viber for communication. “At the moment, I am using several free VPN apps to access Facebook on my mobile. I also paid around US$10 last week for a single-month VPN plan, but it didn’t work, so I set up a new channel on Telegram for my customers,” said a 30-year-old woman who runs a fashion page on Facebook. As part of the ban on VPN software, junta troops in Bago, Mandalay and Ayeyarwady regions have reportedly stepped up their inspections of mobile phones, according to sources. “Whenever they stop motorbikes to check licences, they also check our phones. If they spot VPN software on our devices, they force us to delete it and make us pay a 100,000 kyat fine before they’ll release us,” said a man from Ayeyarwady Region’s Hinthada Township. A resident of Kyaukse in Mandalay Region told Myanmar Now that junta troops and police have also been conducting mobile phone checks on pedestrians in the city centre. “They force us to pay a fine of up to 300,000 kyat when they find VPN apps on our mobile phone. If we can’t pay the fine, they confiscate our mobiles,” he said.

Myanmar junta cracking down on efforts to work around internet controls

The regime is pressuring internet service providers to block software that enables users to access Facebook and banned media websites

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