After Facebook ban, thousands in Myanmar take to Twitter

Since Myanmar’s new military rulers imposed a temporary blockade on Facebook on Thursday, thousands in the Southeast Asian country have joined Twitter, according to app downloads and a Reuters estimate.
Many are using the platform and pro-democracy hashtags to criticize the army’s takeover and call for peaceful protests until the result of November’s election, which was won in a landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, is respected.
The hashtags #RespectOurVotes, #HearTheVoiceofMyanmar, and #SaveMyanmar all had hundreds of thousands of interactions by Friday, according to hashtag tracker BrandMentions.
The junta seized power on Monday in a coup against the democratically elected government of Suu Kyi in response to what the army said was “election fraud.” [L4N2KA47K]
Military authorities banned Facebook Inc – which counts half of the population as users – until at least February 7th for the sake of “stability”, after the junta’s opponents began using the platform to organize.