How Facebook has Affected the Myanmar Civil War


The biggest fueler of this war, as stated in the overview, is the conflict between the Buddhists and the Muslims in Myanmar. This is a deep-rooted conflict that has been prevalent in Myanmar for a very long time, but the bulk of the war was started over hate propaganda. In 2017, multiple accounts were made that created the impression of being influential members of the country. 

            These accounts went on to spread anti-Muslim hate and they created false narratives to fuel the anti-Muslim propaganda. In 2018, all of these propaganda accounts were found by Facebook to be linked back to the Myanmar military, but at that point, there was too much damage done to the relationship between the Buddhists and the Muslims to stop the trajectory of war. 

For context, the Rohingya people are a predominantly Muslim ethnic group who reside in Myanmar. The Rohingya people are the group that conflicts with the Buddhist people in Myanmar. They have been in Myanmar for centuries and have been refused citizenship in Myanmar due to the lack of stable rule in Myanmar as well as discrimination.

Many believe that Facebook is one of the reasons why this war has gotten to the place it has. With all of the anti-Muslim statements put out, it seemed as though the true “evil” in the country was coming from the Rohingya people. Facebook has taken down many of the propaganda accounts due to the backlash. Even though they have attempted to take down these accounts, they did not do it soon enough and they failed to protect an already vulnerable population. With all the devastation that has already occurred, Facebook refuses to help the Rohingya people still by not giving aid to their refugee camps. 

The hate spread of Facebook combined with Facebook’s lack of assistance to aid the Rohingya people, there is a lot of reason to believe that Facebook was a key part in the civil war in Myanmar. Hopefully, in the coming months, Facebook will do better to help achieve more harmony with the people they have done so much harm too.



 Falise, T. (n.d.). An officer from the Ta’ang National Liberation Army stands at attention with his soldiers during a morning gathering in a military camp. photograph. 

Hindstrom, H. (2016, April 1). Burma’s transition to civilian rule hasn’t stopped abuses. Time. https://time.com/4277328/burma-myanmar-suu-kyi-ethnic-wars/ 

Kurlantzick, J. (2023, June 28). Myanmar’s junta is losing the Civil War. World Politics Review. https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/myanmar-civil-war-coup-democracy-military-junta-conflict/ 

Mozur, P. (2018, October 15). A genocide incited on Facebook, with posts from Myanmar’s military. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/technology/myanmar-facebook-genocide.html 

Myanmar: Facebook’s systems promoted violence against Rohingya; meta owes reparations – new report. Amnesty International. (2023, January 16). https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/09/myanmar-facebooks-systems-promoted-violence-against-rohingya-meta-owes-reparations-new-report/ 

Staff, A. J. (2018, April 18). Myanmar: Who are the Rohingya?. Rohingya | Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/4/18/who-are-the-rohingya 

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