Myanmar 'traitors' hounded in online anti-coup campaign

Topic: 

Myanmar, coup, junta

Description: 

"As Myanmar descends into chaos, smartphone warriors in the anti-coup movement are seeking revenge online against the junta, hounding people with family ties to the military as a form of "social punishment". The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in February and the death toll from the violence has risen past 500 as the junta struggles to quash dissent. Anger and grief over the crackdown are being channelled into an online campaign, with close to 170 people with relatives in the junta listed on a website as "traitors". The site and a corresponding Facebook page - which had 67,000 followers before it was shut down - detail the personal information of these people, such as workplaces, universities and links to their social media accounts - a practice known as doxxing. "We are here to punish families of the military or the people who are supporting the military. Never forgive, never forget!" the Facebook page said. Facebook closed down the page for violating community standards, but other pages with smaller numbers of followers still exist. "We will continue to closely monitor the situation on the ground in Myanmar," a Facebook spokeswoman said. The consequences of social punishment have resulted in some victims being forced to shut down their online businesses and a Myanmar university student in Japan quitting her studies, according to local media reports. The campaign is broader in scope than those with family ties to the military - people not participating in the civil disobedience strike action are also being targeted and threats have been made to journalists who cover the junta's press conferences..."

Source/publisher: 

"CNA" ( Singapore)

Date of Publication: 

2021-04-01

Date of entry: 

2021-04-04

Grouping: 

  • Individual Documents

Category: 

Countries: 

Myanmar

Language: 

English

Local URL: 

Format: 

pdf

Size: 

477.99 KB

Resource Type: 

text

Text quality: 

    • Good