▲ SNS page recommending a silent protest on February 1st
The Myanmar military regime has arrested citizens for clicking 'Like' on certain social media posts.
According to Myanmar Now, a local media outlet in Myanmar, five people, including 21-year-old So Yadana, who lives in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar, were arrested on the 30th of last month for 'liking' and sharing an SNS post encouraging participation in a silent protest.
Anti-military forces, including the National Unity Government (NUG), the provisional government of Myanmar's democratic camp, appealed to the people to hold a silent demonstration to refrain from going out on the 1st, the 2nd anniversary of the military coup.
Even though it was a weekday, this appeal received a great response as there were hardly any vehicles other than buses and taxis on the road.
In the meantime, Myanmar's military has been controlling internet use, but it is the first arrest through SNS censorship, Myanmar Now said.
The military completely blocked the internet for a day on February 1, 2021, which caused the coup, and made it impossible to use Facebook, a SNS service that Myanmar people use a lot.
It has also threatened to punish people who bypass Facebook via virtual private networks (VPNs).
Myanmar Now predicted that sharing this silent protest and 'liking' could result in a sentence of up to 7 years in prison.
The Myanmar military, led by Supreme Commander Min Aung Hlaing, argued that the general elections in November 2020, in which Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory, were fraudulent elections, and launched a coup on February 1 of the following year to oppose it. has been bloodily repressed.
(Photo = Myanmar Now website capture, Yonhap News)