Satire report about Myanmar armed group charging for citizenship misleads online

After an armed faction in eastern Myanmar’s Karen state announced the formation of the independent Republic of Kawthoolei in January 2026, social media posts falsely claimed that residents of a neighboring region were being deported unless they paid 50,000 Thai baht for citizenship. But the claim came from a satirical report and a Kawthoolei Army spokesman said it was false.

“The expulsion of Ayeyarwady residents from the Kawthoolei Republic on the Thai border in Karen State has begun,” read the headline of a Burmese-language Facebook post on May 9, 2026.

The post includes four images showing men queuing to board a vehicle, a photo of what appears to be a Republic of Kawthoolei passport, a photo of KTLA leader Saw Nerdah Myaand an image of a pile of documents that look like identification papers.

“President Saw Nerdah Mya has issued an ultimatum to Ayeyarwady residents who wish to become citizens of Kawthoolei, stating that they must pay 50,000 Thai baht or else they must leave immediately,” the post added.

According to the message, the chief had said the Republic of Kawthoolei “will not accept people from the Ayeyarwady region” unless they pay 50,000 Thai baht (about $1,540), calling it a “special privilege.”

Myanmar has been mired in civil war since a 2021 coup toppled the civilian government, with the military battling myriad pro-democracy guerrillas and ethnic armed organizations.

The Kawthoolei Army (KTLA) is a faction of the Karen National Union (KNU) that has been fighting the Myanmar military for decades for greater autonomy along the Thai border (archived link).

Saw Nerdah Mya, who formed the KTLA after his dismissal as commander-in-chief of the KNU military wing in July 2022, announced the formation of the independent “Kawthoolei Republic” on January 5, 2026, according to regional media (archived link).

Similar allegations regarding the expulsion have spread elsewhere on Facebook in Burmese.

It sparked comments from some concerned users, with one saying: “50,000 Thai baht is a huge amount.”

However, it is not true that the people of Ayeyarwady are being expelled from Karen State.

The post appears to be intended as a satirical report: it uses slang terms and makes fun of Saw Nerdah Mya. A close inspection of the Facebook page sharing the report revealed that it regularly published similar articles taunting Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement.

KTLA Spokesperson Captain Saw Nyi Zaw told AFP via a Telegram call on May 19 that no such expulsion had taken place and that the comments attributed to the group’s leader were fabricated.

“Kawthoolei issues ID cards to everyone. It’s not true that we collect THB 50,000,” he said.

The Royal Thai Army also told AFP by telephone on May 19 that the claim that Ayeyarwady residents had been expelled along the Myanmar-Thailand border was false.

Unrelated photo and AI image

Reverse image and keyword searches revealed that the photo of men queuing to board a military vehicle was published by Thai PBS television channel on January 28, 2026 (archived link).

The report said the photo showed Myanmar soldiers who had escaped from a prison in the eastern state of Karenni and were being returned by Thai authorities to a border post between the two countries.

Thai journalist Tossapol Boonpat told AFP the photo was taken by a friend and shared with him.

“The photo shows the moment when Thai authorities handed over the Burmese soldiers who had deserted their ranks and crossed the Thai border in Khun Yuam district, Mae Hong Son province. The handover took place in Tak province,” Tossapol told AFP on May 21.

Additionally, the passport image contains several visual errors, including an incompatible KTLA logo and gibberish Burmese writing (archived link).

Google’s SynthID detection tool determined that there was a “very high” chance that the images were created with Google AI (archived link).

KTLA spokesperson Capt. Saw Nyi Zaw also said the group does not currently issue passports and that the image on the ID cards was “not a photo taken from our office.”

The AFP has already denied allegations that KTLA published bank notes bearing the likeness of Saw Nerdah Mya, after the group declared its independence.