Goodbye, MM Facebook
Well, it’s happened. I was surprised when my friend sent me this link claiming that Facebook and Messenger have been banned in Burma — from Facebook while I was at home. However, I knew from two days ago that the connection would be gradually disrupted, rather than taken out all at once. Each telecom operator essentially has to agree to block access to the platform. MyTel would not have been an issue, as the military owns 1/3 of it. MPT was owned by the government but is now a private company (perhaps scare-quotes are needed). Ooredoo is owned by the government of Qatar, but it seems that Messenger and Facebook are blocked through them, as well. Telenor, as mentioned in the Myanmar Times article linked above, gave in and restricted access, despite their moral objections.
The Burmese people are migrating to Twitter en masse, due to their belief that they can attract more international attention by posting there. My fear of Twitter is that, much like Facebook, it can be easily shut down by the Ministry of Communications, because it’s a centralized platform. I made a Twitter account years ago, but I do not plan on using it. I have created a Pleroma account on GNU/blobcat, which you can go to here.
I will attempt to keep people updated about my life through my website and through my Blobcat account. I will also attempt to download and use a VPN.
Stay safe, all.