State of Freedom of Expression in Myanmar (August 2026)
August 2026 marks the 38th anniversary of the 8888 Uprising, the inception of Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. Commemorative activities for the 8888 movement take place every August, and this year featured initiatives such as the 8888 Shirt Campaign, the Umbrella Strike, and public talk sessions titled “Remembering the 8888 Mass Uprising.” However, compared to previous years, activities exercising freedom of expression to commemorate 8888 have noticeably declined. According to Athan’s monitoring records, there were 41 public movements in 2024 including street protests, photo campaigns, and flash mobs while only 23 occurred in 2025 and 2026, a drop of up to 56 percent.
Regarding freedom of expression online during August, a total of 9 individuals were arrested for expressing opinions, reacting to posts, or writing comments on social media. Among them, 4 were charged under Section 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. The military continues to monitor the public’s social media use, particularly by surveilling the accounts of revolutionary organizations, and then arrests and prosecutes individuals who leave supportive comments under severe legal provisions.
Among the freedom-of-expression violations in August, the military junta’s Ministry of Information warned that it would take legal action against the creation and sale of boy love/girl love romance novels. Furthermore, the daily state-run The Mirror newspaper announced on August 28 that it had designated nine book-selling social media pages as illegal.