iMAP Myanmar 2023 Internet Censorship Report

Key Findings

Following two years of military rule, the status of internet censorship in Myanmar has increased steadily. As the situation stands today, Myanmar has no internet freedom at all.

During the research period from 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023, the study found 177 sites that were confirmed to be blocked by DNS and HTTP interference.

In April 2022, the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoTC) issued a directive to block websites associated with opposing government entities, such as NUG and CRPH. This action resulted in the largest number of government-blocked websites in this study. The social networking category is found to have the second highest number of blocked websites. This is followed by militant and terrorism websites based on OONI categories.

The 104 blocked websites mentioned in the previous 2022 report continue to be blocked, as noted in this 2023 report. 

The study found that a higher percentage of likely blocks appear in Rakhine and Chin than in other states and regions.

Since 3 February 2021, the country’s telecom companies have been ordered to block access to Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp. Communication platforms such as Facebook Messenger, Signal, and WhatsApp may experience potential interference; these platforms were inaccessible through certain ISPs on certain days, potentially indicating a blockade.

The OONI data shows that users in Myanmar can access circumvention tools like Psiphon, Tor, Tor Snowflake, and Vanilla Tor most of the time.

Versions of the full report can be downloaded at the links below.

For this report, please note the clarification and correction of errors in this page.