Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/289874 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
ifo Working Paper No. 408
Publisher: 
ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Munich
Abstract: 
This paper investigates whether social media access is associated with increased probability or intensity of ethnic conflict in Myanmar. In this context most people use mobile phones, and particularly the Facebook app, to access the internet. To distinguish the effects of social media from those of the broader internet, I exploit geographic variation in mobile phone coverage as a proxy for Facebook availability. Despite evidence of a hate-campaign utilizing Facebook to reach wide audiences, I do not find that social media access is associated with increased probability or intensity of conflict. The only exception to the null result is variation related to the Rohingya crisis: in this regional setting suggestive evidence points to Facebook availability being associated with slightly higher probability of conflict.
Subjects: 
internet
social media
conflict
propaganda
Myanmar
Rohingya
JEL: 
D74
O33
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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