The junta began notifying the Myanmar public via text message in recent weeks that they could be hit with terror charges for engaging in pro-resistance social media activities.
It is a move seen by many as a renewed attempt to instil in people a fear of the coup regime as the military enters the third year in its claim to power.
Three telecom providers are currently operating in Myanmar: MPT, ATOM—formerly Telenor—and Ooredoo. They started sending the text messages in question to consumers during the third week of January, warning users that engaging with Facebook posts related to “terrorism” could lead to criminal charges, and citing the junta’s counterterrorism committee.
“The Central Committee on Counter-terrorism (CCCT) would like to inform you that clicking ‘Share, Like, Comment’ on posts concerned with terrorism can lead to action under the law,” the messages, which have been seen by Myanmar Now, read.
Local sources told Myanmar Now that they did not all receive the warnings at the same time. Some noted that they were sent the text in late January, and others—particularly in southern Myanmar—only received them on Thursday.
In the wake of the February 2021 military coup, the junta initiated an internet blackout and later blocked popular social media platforms. People resorted to the installation of virtual private networks, commonly known as VPNs, to access Facebook—the primary online platform used by many in the country to communicate with others and access news.
The regime proceeded to criminalise the use of VPNs, bringing charges against people after finding the banned applications in their phones, or after uncovering evidence of social media activities deemed supportive of anti-coup sentiments.
The junta also declared popular resistance groups to be “terrorist” organisations. Among these were the People’s Defence Force (PDF), which has formed hundreds of armed chapters nationwide, and the publicly mandated National Unity Government (NUG), founded by ousted lawmakers of the National League for Democracy, whose elected government was deposed in the coup.
As the armed resistance movement has taken hold across the country, both the NUG and PDF have been regularly accused by the military council of carrying out “terrorist” attacks. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has blamed the groups for instability in Myanmar, claiming that they have been inciting the public to revolt against the state.
Days before the two-year anniversary of the military coup on Wednesday, anti-regime forces including the NUG took to social media to call on the public to participate in a “silent strike.” They asked people to stay home between 10am and 3pm as a show of solidarity with the movement to restore civilian rule to the country.
Since then, the junta’s text messages threatening terrorism charges have become more frequent, sources told Myanmar Now.
Soe Yadanar Oo, a 21-year-old woman living in the administrative capital of Naypyitaw, became one of the first victims targeted in the text message campaign after she was arrested on Monday for her social media use.
In a Facebook post written that day, she mocked the junta’s cautionary texts, suggesting that the regime feared the silent strike movement.
“I can’t believe how much some people are scared of the date 1.2.2023. What is this so-called CCCT sending to us?,” she wrote in Burmese, referring to the counterterrorism committee. “Are they really that scared? They said we can’t like, share or comment. Huh? It makes me want to laugh.”
Soon after the initial post, she shared a photo promoting the silent strike; on Tuesday, she was charged for both posts.
According to a source familiar with Soe Yadanar Oo’s situation, junta authorities opened a case against her under Section 52a of the Counterterrorism Law, for which she will face a maximum of seven years in prison if found guilty in a military-controlled court.
The section covers a range of activities, from organising or participating in a terrorist act to harbouring an individual associated with a terrorist group.
A junta mouthpiece announced on Wednesday that Soe Yadana Oo was arrested for “incitement to jeopardise the stability of the state.”
Four other people were arrested for the same reason between January 28 and 30, according to regime announcements, which identified them as being from Bago, Mandalay and Yangon regions.
“Their main purpose is instilling fear in the people,” a 20-year-old man also from Naypyitaw told Myanmar Now in response to the junta’s recent campaign. “It is completely lawless… We have been stripped of our freedom and future since the morning of February 1, 2021.”
