Burma Campaign UK and the International Campaign for the Rohingya (ICR) called on U.S. tech companies to remove Mytel, the military-owned telecoms operator, from their platforms on Tuesday.
Apple, Google, along with its video sharing platform YouTube, and LinkedIn, which is owned by Microsoft, still host Mytel channels and smartphone applications via their online services and app stores despite the U.S. government imposing sanctions against Mytel on Jan. 6.
“American technology companies whose software may be used by Mytel should immediately review existing contracts, end direct sales and services if they are being provided, and instruct third-party suppliers to do the same,” said Simon Billenness, the ICR executive director.
He added that U.S. companies should also end any existing business arrangement with Viettel, the Vietnamese telecoms operator owned by the Vietnamese government and a partner of Mytel.
Billenness claimed that Mytel has posted online in the past about using technologies supplied by Oracle, Cisco, Juniper Networks, Fortinet, Microsoft, TensorFlow, which is also owned by Google, and PyTorch, which is owned by the Linux Foundation.
“Why are American technology companies still providing services to companies owned by the Burmese military, despite its human rights record and the clear links between Burmese military-owned companies and the human rights violations they commit?” asked Mark Farmaner, the Burma Campaign UK director.
The U.S. government stated that Mytel was sanctioned for financially supporting the Myanmar military, which is responsible for human rights violations, war crimes and for surveillance technology targeting Myanmar’s 54 million citizens.
In 2022, the U.S. stated that the 2017 military crackdown in northern Arakan (Rakhine) State was determined to be genocide against the Rohingya
Over 3.5 million people have been displaced from their homes in Myanmar. Since the 2021 military coup, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed and 28,217 civilians have been arrested nationwide with 21,507 political prisoners still under regime detention.
The telecoms sector in Myanmar liberalized in 2013, which allowed Ooredoo and Telenor to join Myanma Post and Telecommunication (MPT) in the market the following year. Mytel became the fourth and final operator when it was launched in 2017, with the opening ceremony attended by Senior General, and current regime leader, Min Aung Hlaing.
Mytel operates under Telecom International Myanmar Company Limited, a joint venture between the Myanmar military and Vietnam’s Viettel.
The military profits from Mytel through rental fees for constructing communication towers and other infrastructure. Mytel reportedly provides perks to military generals and thousands of free SIM cards to military families and members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government ousted in the 2021 coup.