Myanmar’s military regime has formed a new body tasked with publishing information in multiple languages aimed at countering independent media’s narratives on the country.
The launch marks the latest junta effort to expand its propaganda operations and push back against domestic and international criticism, according to a recent gazette from the junta’s Information Ministry.
Established on January 31, the body is led by Deputy Defense Minister Major General Aung Myo Thant. Senior officials from the Myanmar military’s Office of the Judge Advocate General and Directorate of Public Relations and Psychological Warfare, and the ministries of Information, Foreign Affairs, Home Affairs, and Transport and Communications, have been appointed as members.
According to the gazette, the body has seven tasks, all aimed at reinforcing the military’s political narrative and countering reports of its war crimes and human rights violations.
The body will publish “Information Sheets” in Burmese, English, Chinese and Russian, presenting what it calls key government policies in short, simplified formats. These will be distributed to embassies and military attaché offices in “real time.” China and Russia are key allies and major arms suppliers of the regime.
The body will use multiple social media platforms to promote the junta’s activities, highlight so‑called “nation‑building efforts,” and produce “morale‑boosting content” for soldiers, military families and civil servants.
It will also monitor and respond to criticism from opposition groups and independent media, and conduct other “real-time” information operations.
One of the committee members is Dr. Thida Tin, director‑general of the Ministry of Information’s Media Development Department. She is the wife of Ko Ko Hlaing, one of the junta‑appointed President’s Office ministers.
Former military officer Ko Ko Hlaing is a long-time junta supporter and defender in various roles. He previously served as an adviser to the Ministry of Information under the Than Shwe regime, helping to enforce strict censorship on media. He later advised President Thein Sein and recently represented the junta at the International Court of Justice, defending the military against genocide allegations over the Rohingya.
The junta’s announcement did not provide further details of the body’s functions. A veteran political analyst said the move reflects the regime’s frustration with global media coverage. “They feel surrounded by international media exposing them with facts. Their media are not doing well. This is their attempt to fight back,” he said. “But most of the committees and bodies they have formed since the coup have achieved nothing.”
Since the 2021 coup, the junta, its supporters and junta-backed media have relied on state‑run broadcasters including MRTV, English-language MITV and Myawaddy, as well as newspapers such as The Mirror, Kyemon and the English-language Global New Light of Myanmar, to push its narrative. It has also used Telegram, Facebook, TikTok and networks of fake social media pages to spread disinformation and attack critics. Groups like the Myanmar Narrative Think Tank have been deployed to influence international opinion.
Social media platform Facebook, which is synonymous with the internet in Myanmar, has repeatedly taken down accounts associated with the regime since the coup.
On Monday, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing handed out a new round of honorary titles to entertainers, influencers and media figures who have actively supported its propaganda campaigns, underscoring the junta’s growing emphasis on information dissemination.
Despite these efforts, the junta has failed to blunt the impact of the country’s exiled independent media, which continue to shape public understanding of the conflict. This has led Min Aung Hlaing and other generals to repeatedly accuse them of “undermining the military” and “inciting unrest.”
Just days ago, junta No. 2 Soe Win told troops in southern Shan State that opposition groups were using social media to discredit the military, and that the anti-regime armed organizations known as People’s Defense Forces had emerged as a result of instigation by exiled media.
The junta’s renewed propaganda drive also echoes the playbook of military intelligence in the 1990s and 2000s, when General Khin Nyunt’s apparatus built an entire ecosystem to shape how Myanmar was portrayed abroad. The Myanmar Times, launched under Brigadier General Thein Swe and fronted by his son Sonny Swe with Australian publisher Ross Dunkley, operated outside the normal censorship system and was vetted directly by intelligence officers. It attracted criticism that the publication largely reflected Myanmar military perspectives, with foreign editors groomed to present the image the generals wanted the world to see.
