In September 2007, during the pro-democratic protests in Burma, people inside the country posted photos and videos of events as they unfolded on weblogs. This material, which was quickly picked up by mainstream media, circumvented censorship by the Burmese authorities by providing content that would otherwise have been impossible to source. It made it possible for the world to follow a censored political event. The website bbcburmese.com became a vital source of information for Burmese diasporas all over the world.

The user base of the BBC Burmese site quadrupled during the peak of the protests and the military junta crackdown on 26 September, reaching around 60,000 Burmese-speaking users around the globe within one week. The users of bbcburmese.com during this period were all based outside Burma, in countries such as the USA, Singapore and the UK, among others. Despite the efforts of those inside Burma to access news sites and blogs, the government closed down all internet access on 28 September.