Myanmar women target of online abuse by pro-military social media - Al Jazeera English

Women were subjected to “doxxing” and threatened for expressing views opposing subject regularisation with their online abusers calling for off-line punishment by authorities.

Women who person expressed views connected societal media opposing subject regularisation successful Myanmar are being subjected to abuse, including calls for their apprehension and threats of violence, rape and decease by pro-military online users, a survey has found.

Myanmar Witness, an organisation that led the study, said societal media platforms specified arsenic Telegram and Facebook were not doing capable to tackle online maltreatment oregon were not responding rapidly capable to requests to region abusive users and content.

Politically motivated maltreatment against women from and successful Myanmar accrued astatine slightest fivefold successful the aftermath of the military’s seizure of powerfulness successful February 2021, according to the study, and the prevalence of abusive posts targeting women was 500 times higher connected Telegram compared with different planetary societal media companies.

“The overwhelming bulk of abusive posts were authored by male-presenting profiles supportive of Myanmar’s subject coup and targeted women who opposed the coup,” Myanmar Witness said successful the study released connected Wednesday.

“Online maltreatment and doxxing attacks are having a silencing effect and causing women to retreat from nationalist life,” the study said.

“Survivors study attacks connected their views, idiosyncratic and dignity, and threats of rape, decease and unit with terrible affectional and intelligence impacts,” it said.

“Doxxing”  – the merchandise of people’s backstage details online without their consent, specified arsenic their location address, interaction details and idiosyncratic photos – was the main signifier of maltreatment recovered successful the study, which progressive 1.6 cardinal Telegram posts arsenic good arsenic lawsuit studies and interviews with those targeted by politically motivated maltreatment online.

The women subjected to doxing appeared to person been singled retired for having commented positively connected groups successful Myanmar that reason subject rule, specified arsenic the shadiness National Unity Government, which includes erstwhile democratically elected legislators, and the People’s Defence Force (PDF), which has taken up arms to combat subject rule.

According to the study, “28% of each doxxing posts analysed successful the qualitative survey see an explicit telephone for the targeted women to beryllium punished offline.”

“Almost each of these called connected Myanmar subject authorities to apprehension the targeted pistillate and/or prehend her property,” it said.

Coordinated behaviour was observed by those down the campaigns of maltreatment “through the predominant sharing and communal amplification of doxxing posts” arsenic good arsenic alerting authorities and celebrating the arrests of the women targeted, according to the study.

Women were besides subjected to sexualised disinformation campaigns wherever pro-military societal media users depicted their targets arsenic “morally corrupt”, “racially impure”, “promiscuous” and “sexual prey for PDF and taste equipped organisation (EAO) leaders and foreigners”.

“Dehumanising sexualised connection and imagery mirrors tactics known to person been utilized by the Myanmar subject to dehumanise the Rohingya population,” the study said.

What the study uncovered was apt the “tip of the iceberg”, the organisation said, noting that the standard and severity of maltreatment targeting women online was apt overmuch larger arsenic the survey was based lone connected publically disposable societal media posts. Posts shared successful closed societal media groups could not beryllium assessed, and Facebook’s information entree argumentation does not let for large-scale quantitative analysis.

“Without afloat entree to level information it is intolerable to accurately measure the existent standard oregon prevalence of abuse,” the survey said. “This is peculiarly applicable for Myanmar’s astir wide utilized societal media platform, Facebook.”

The report’s authors said societal media platforms request to beryllium much accountable, should enactment with women’s rights organisations successful Myanmar and give much resources to monitoring the section connection contented they host.

Platforms should besides marque information accessible to those affected by online maltreatment truthful they tin way specified contented and the “effectiveness of countermeasures” taken by societal media firms, the authors wrote. Social media companies besides request to amended their effect times erstwhile maltreatment and threats are reported and indispensable rapidly region abusive accounts erstwhile threatening enactment is flagged, the Myanmar Witness said.

In an update added to the report, the organisation said Telegram and Meta appeared to person removed “the bulk of abusive posts and channels identified during this investigation” arsenic of Wednesday.