Myanmar’s military regime blocks VPNs, limiting access to news

The effort to restrict access to information began in late May, according to mobile phone operators, internet service providers, a major opposition group and media reports.

The military government that took power in February 2021 after ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi has made some previous murky attempts to throttle internet traffic, particularly in the months immediately following their takeover.

Reports in local media say the crackdown on internet usage involves random street searches of people’s mobile phones to check for VPN apps, with fines if found, although it is unclear whether fines are an official measure.

On Friday, US government-funded Radio Free Asia’s Burmese-language service reported that around 25 people from Myanmar’s central coastal Ayeyarwady region were arrested and fined by security forces this week after VPN apps were found on their phones. cell phones.

As the military faces strong armed challenges from pro-democracy guerrillas across the country in what amounts to a civil war, it has also made a regular practice of shutting down civilian communications in areas where fighting is taking place. While this may serve tactical purposes, it also makes it difficult for evidence of alleged human rights violations to become public.

According to a report released last month by Athan, a Myanmar freedom of expression advocacy group, almost 90 out of 330 settlements across the country have had internet access or phone service – or both – cut off by authorities.

The resistance that arose to the military takeover in 2021 relied heavily on social media, especially Facebook, to organize street protests. As nonviolent resistance escalated into armed struggle and other independent media outlets were shut down or forced underground, the need for information online grew.

The resistance scored a cyber victory when Facebook and other major social media platforms banned members of Myanmar’s military for their alleged human and civil rights abuses, and also blocked advertising from most entities. trade related to the military.

This year, widely used free VPN services began crashing at the end of May, with users receiving messages that they could not connect, keeping them from social media such as Facebook, WhatsApp and some websites. VPNs connect users to their desired sites through third-party computers, effectively making it nearly impossible for Internet service providers and snooping governments to see what users are actually connecting to.

Internet users, including online retailers, have complained over the past two weeks of major slowdowns, saying they were unable to view or upload videos and posts or send messages easily.

Operators of Myanmar’s military-backed major telecommunications companies MPT, Ooredoo, Atom and Mytel, as well as fiber internet services, told The Associated Press on Friday that access to Facebook, Instagram, X, WhatsApp and VPN services was blocked. nationwide in the end. of May by order of the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

The AP tried to reach a spokesman for the Ministry of Transport and Communications for comment, but did not receive a response.

The operators said VPNs are not currently authorized for use, but suggested users try cycling through different services to see if it works.

A test by the AP of more than two dozen VPN apps found that only one could maintain a connection, and it was very slow.

The military government has yet to publicly announce a ban on VPNs.

The military government in late 2021 drafted but did not pass a cybersecurity law to punish anyone who uses a VPN without permission from the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It seeks a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 5,000,000 Myanmar kyat ($1,125 at the free market exchange rate) or both.

Khit Thit, an online news service sympathetic to the resistance movement, reported earlier this month that army generals from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, along with a Myanmar technology company and Chinese communications experts, collaborated on measures to block VPNs.

China is notorious for having a very tight firewall to control internet traffic and has warm relations with the military government.

The Government of National Unity, a major opposition organization that calls itself the country’s legitimate government, issued a statement on June 8 condemning the military government’s actions “which restrict and block people’s basic human rights” and vowed to continue “to build an independent Internet network in countries free from the control of the terrorist army.”