Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the rise of online hate speech in Myanmar and argues that it is the continuation of entrenched political tactics that are finding a new outlet and a wider participation through digital technologies.

Paper long abstract:

In 2011, Myanmar started a transition from a military dictatorship that heavily censored media, including the Internet, to a more democratic government that supports free media. This transition has been accompanied by a rise of ultra-nationalist groups that use a variety of traditional and digital media to diffuse virulently anti-Muslim messages. Bouts of communal violence within the period 2012-2014 were the direct result of hate speech mobilization via new media. Drawing from primary and secondary sources, participant observation, and ethnographic work on the use of new media in Myanmar, this paper will explore the institutionalization of hatred toward ethnic and religious minority groups on social media during the transition period 2011-2015. It will examine the intersection of religious, nationalist and political ideologies expressed in the form of extreme speech and disseminated through social media in the period leading to the 2015 election. Rather than being an online-only phenomenon, in Myanmar hate speech is a form of political ideology that has been deployed as a tool to sway voters, as shown in the 2015 elections, when the opposition party did not win in the areas where hate groups have had the strongest offline (and online) influence.