January 2022

The military’s new draft Cyber Security Law repeats the repressive provisions of previous drafts and adds more, seriously threatening the safety and security of Myanmar’s digital space.

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Prosecutors would no longer be required to present electronic evidence of a crime in court, but could simply say that the evidence exists (Art. 66). [...] If the defendant’s lawyers gave contradictory evidence in defence, which is normal in any criminal case, the court would be forced to favour the prosecution’s evidence, regardless of its merit (Art. 67).

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The 2022 draft does not include any safeguards to arbitrary blocking. [...]

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The 2022 draft would criminalise the use of Virtual Private Networks, or VPN, with a punishment of up to three years imprisonment and a fine (Art. 90). [...]

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The previous 2021 draft would have made digital businesses, such as Facebook and YouTube, criminally liable for hosting [...] [f]or example, expression that disturbed the so-called “stability” of the military’s coup (Art. 29a). [...] 

The 2022 draft repeats the 2021 version and [...] added a sixth vague category of expression that the military could order deleted: “expressions that damage an individual’s social standing and livelihood” (Art. 35f). [...]

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The 2021 draft would have rightly criminalised the specific crime of seeking, receiving, or imparting content showing sexual abuse of children (Art. 69). However, the military has completely removed this crime from the 2022 draft. [...]

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The 2022 draft includes a range of provisions that could seriously undermine the financial systems that are commonly used by members of the public to finance groups that offer dissent against the military such as the National Unity Government (NUG), Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), and Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) (Art.94 and 95).

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