Myanmar’s already-stalled democratic transition was derailed in February 2021, when the military seized control of the government, arresting dozens of senior civilian officials and preventing the newly elected parliament from convening. The National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a sweeping victory in the November 2020 elections, has led a broad-based opposition to the takeover, organizing a country-wide Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) as well as an armed resistance, and serving as the backbone of a self-declared National Unity Government (NUG), which exercises partial or effective control over a growing swathe of territory outside major population centers. Protesters, journalists, activists, and ordinary people risk criminal charges, detention, and lethal violence for voicing dissent against the military. Millions of people remain displaced or have been newly displaced by violence, including hundreds of thousands of Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority

Myanmar is rated Not Free in Freedom on the Net, Freedom House's comprehensive study of internet freedom around the globe.