Dissident Spotlight: Myo Tayzar Maung
Myo Tayzar Maung spent two years in prison for posting content on his Facebook page that “is likely to cause fear or alarm in the public.”
In September 2021, poet Myo Tayzar Maung was arrested for what he posted on his Facebook page. It’s unclear what exactly he posted that led to his arrest. However, PEN America’s Writers at Risk database reports that he was charged under Myanmar’s law prohibiting speech that “is likely to cause fear or alarm in the public” in May 2022.
Maung’s two-year sentence was commuted in January 2023 when the military government granted amnesty to over 7,000 prisoners. That still left him with seven months in prison for a Facebook post critical of the military government.
Even without the Facebook post, it’s easy to see why Myanmar’s military would attract public criticism. The military overthrew the country’s elected government in 2021 and used imprisonment, physical and sexual violence, and terror to silence critics.
Ridiculous speech codes that outlaw content that may cause “fear or alarm” do the opposite of what the text says. The military’s terror campaign, the source of public fear and alarm, cannot be spoken about. It’s the kind of backward logic that is meant to exercise brute force instead of set ground rules that cannot in good conscience be followed.
Free Speech Protections are Rare
The United States’ First Amendment is a rarity in the world and stands out even among other Western countries. A 60 Minutes report covered Germany’s hate speech laws, which allow police to raid homes for posting racist cartoons online.
The episode aired in February 2025.
While the German government is targeting trolls, its actions still chill speech that is critical of certain immigration policies but that doesn’t disparage racial or ethnic groups. The United States allows lawful but awful speech, but that also prevents the government from suppressing speech that the party in power disapproves of.
Hateful speech by itself can’t be prosecuted in the United States, but there are also no opinions that can land poets in prison for months at a time.