Internet access in Myanmar has exploded from less than 1 percent in 2001 to more than 30 percent in 2018 and of those who have access, 40 percent list Facebook as their primary source of news. Coinciding with Facebook’s diffusion in Myanmar is a sharp increase in violence toward minority groups—especially the Rohingya. A U.N. Fact-Finding mission found Facebook was used to spread hate and facilitate the persecution of the Rohingya. But we know little about how people in Myanmar actually use Facebook, how they acquire and evaluate the information they find on the platform and whether they see disinformation or extreme speech. Furthermore, we lack information about the sentiments that Facebook users and non-users express about the Rohingya and how they view Facebook’s role in inter-ethnic conflict. We use interviews to address these questions. We find that people in Myanmar use Facebook for a variety of reasons, that they look at international and domestic sources, and encounter many different kinds of information—including extreme speech—on the platform. Most people also told us that they prefer sources that confirm their views.

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Myanmar has been conventionally regarded as one of the most repressive countries in the world. As a result, many scholars, journalists, and human rights organizations understandably focus their attention on the draconian policies of the Myanmarese military regime. When the country makes headlines, the story of events taking place is typically framed in terms of state oppression and direct popular opposition. This leads to a restrictive view of the “political” dimensions of life in Myanmar, an approach to the topic that deals with only a small number of admittedly important subjects: authoritarian governance, organized efforts to bring about systemic change, and the fate of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate whose latest release from house arrest put Myanmarese politics back in the headlines in November 2010. What is left out of the picture—or given only glancing attention—are a host of social, economic, and cultural issues that also have political dimensions and implications, namely the efforts by Myanmarese citizens to carve out space for independent, meaningful action on a personal level. These actions, which have political aspects but stop short of being outright forms of dissent, will be my focus in this essay.

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