How Facebook came to Myanmar
When Myanmar opened its doors to the world in 2011 after decades of seclusion, few people in the country had ever heard of Facebook.
But within a few years, the social media platform had become ubiquitous, helping to connect Myanmar’s long-isolated population and driving political and social change in the process.
Now, after a tumultuous few years that have seen the country lurch from military rule to democracy and back again, Facebook is once again playing a central role in Myanmar’s social and political landscape.
Here’s a look at how Facebook came to Myanmar, and the impact it’s had on the country.
Myanmar’s journey to democracy
Myanmar, also known as Burma, was ruled by a military junta for decades, a period during which the country was largely isolated from the rest of the world.
The junta began to loosen its grip on power in the early 2010s, and in 2011, Myanmar held its first free elections in 20 years. The election was won by the National League for Democracy (NLD), a pro-democracy party led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Suu Kyi’s election victory was a watershed moment for Myanmar, and it was soon followed by a series of reforms that saw the country open up to the world after years of isolation.
One of the most significant changes was the introduction of mobile internet in Myanmar. Until 2013, only a small percentage of people in the country had access to the internet, and most of those who did were using slow, dial-up connections.
But the introduction of mobile internet changed all that, and within a few years, Myanmar had one of the fastest-growing internet penetration rates in the world. By 2017, around 30% of the country’s population was using the internet.
It was against this backdrop that Facebook arrived in Myanmar.
The social media platform had been gaining popularity around the world, and when Myanmar opened up to the world, Facebook was quick to seize the opportunity.
In 2013, Facebook launched its Internet.org initiative in Myanmar, which provided free internet access to a limited number of websites, including Facebook.
The initiative was a success, and within a few months, Facebook had become the country’s most popular website.
But it wasn’t just Facebook’s free internet access that made it so popular in Myanmar. The social media platform is perfect for a country like Myanmar, which is largely rural and has a large number of ethnic minorities.
Facebook provides a way for people from different parts of the country to connect with each other and share information. It’s also a platform where people can easily find news and information about what’s happening in the country.
The platform has also been used to organize political protests and movements. In 2015, for example, it was used to organizing protests against a proposed national education law that would have made it harder for ethnic minority students to get an education.
The power of Facebook in Myanmar was on full display in 2016, when the social media platform was used to help spread false information about the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group in Myanmar.
The Rohingya are one of the most persecuted groups in the world, and they’re not recognized as citizens of Myanmar. This has led to a situation where Facebook is being used to spread hate speech and false information about the Rohingya.
In 2017, for example, a fake news story about the Rohingya went viral on Facebook, leading to a wave of violence against the group.
Facebook has been criticized for its role in the spread of false information about the Rohingya.
In 2018, for example, Facebook removed 1.5 million pieces of content that were related to the Rohingya crisis.
But the problem is far from solved, and Facebook still has a long way to go to address the issue.
Facebook has had a profound impact on Myanmar.
The social media platform has connected a long-isolated population and played a role in driving political and social change in the country.
But it has also been used to spread hate speech and false information, which has led to violence against minority groups like the Rohingya.
Facebook still has a lot of work to do to address the problems in Myanmar, but there’s no doubt that the social media platform has had a profound impact on the country.