Mass Atrocities in Myanmar and the Responsibility to Protect in a Digital Age

Abstract

Liberalisation of the telecommunications sector is a significant part of the political changes that were initiated in 2011 in Myanmar, making smartphones, sim cards, and access to the internet more widely available. Social media (SoMe) platforms, notably Facebook, have emerged as the main access to the internet for many people. But as the transition has proceeded, SoMe has become a space both for human rights activism and for inciting human rights abuses against vulnerable minorities. It is well documented that both the state and civil society in Myanmar have used Facebook to foment violence and mass atrocities against the Rohingya and other vulnerable minorities. This article examines some challenges for internet and SoMe governance drawing on the response of Facebook and various internet service providers in Myanmar in order to explore how to apply the norm of R2P on the net. The article aims to provide input for lessons learnt on mass atrocity prevention in a digital age.