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Cited by 78Misinformation and Its ImpactsSocial Media and PoliticsAsian Geopolitics and Ethnography

Poison If You Don’t Know How to Use It: Facebook, Democracy, and Human Rights in Myanmar

Whitten-Woodring, Jenifer, Kleinberg, Mona S., Thawnghmung, Ardeth, Thitsar, Myat The·2020·The International Journal of Press/Politics
DOI 10.1177/1940161220919666
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Abstract

Internet access in Myanmar has exploded from less than 1 percent in 2001 to more than 30 percent in 2018 and of those who have access, 40 percent list Facebook as their primary source of news. Coinciding with Facebook’s diffusion in Myanmar is a sharp increase in violence toward minority groups—especially the Rohingya. A U.N. Fact-Finding mission found Facebook was used to spread hate and facilitate the persecution of the Rohingya. But we know little about how people in Myanmar actually use Facebook, how they acquire and evaluate the information they find on the platform and whether they see disinformation or extreme speech. Furthermore, we lack information about the sentiments that Facebook users and non-users express about the Rohingya and how they view Facebook’s role in inter-ethnic conflict. We use interviews to address these questions. We find that people in Myanmar use Facebook for a variety of reasons, that they look at international and domestic sources, and encounter many different kinds of information—including extreme speech—on the platform. Most people also told us that they prefer sources that confirm their views.

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Crossref · 10.1177/1940161220919666

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35 of 35 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Facebook became the central platform through which new users in Myanmar experienced digital life.

    “Facebook became the central platform through which new users experienced digital life (McCarthy, 2017; The-Thitsar, 2021; Whitten-Woodring et al., 2020).”

    From Organic online politics: Farmers, Facebook, and Myanmar's military coup (2023) · cites this paper as Whitten-Woodring et al., 2020

  • Misinformation poses grave threats including the spread of conspiracy theories, rejection of recommended public health interventions, subversion of democratic processes, and even genocide.

    “Misinformation poses grave threats including the spread of conspiracy theories, rejection of recommended public health interventions, subversion of democratic processes, and even genocide (90, 107, 157, 158).”

    From Stewardship of global collective behavior (2021) · cites this paper as [157]

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Related

Authors
Whitten-Woodring, J., Kleinberg, M. S., Thawnghmung, A., & Thitsar, M. T.
Affiliations
  • University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA
  • University of Massachusetts Lowell (US)
ORCID
Venue
The International Journal of Press/Politics
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2020-05-25
Volume
25
Issue
3
Pages
407-425
ISSN
  • 1040-1620 (ISSN-L)
  • 1940-1612
  • 1940-1620
DOI
10.1177/1940161220919666
OpenAlex
W3026885134
Cited by
77
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3
FWCI
17.35
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
The International Journal of Press/Politics (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Misinformation and Its Impacts
  • Social Sciences › Communication › Social Media and Politics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Asian Geopolitics and Ethnography
Keywords
Facebook, Myanmar, Rohingya, hate speech, disinformation, social media use, news sources, information evaluation, extreme speech, ethnic conflict, persecution of minorities

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