"All of us know the situation in Rakhine. People are in trouble, and many people have been displaced. The internet is one of the contributors to this. So, it has been temporarily suspended. It will be resumed when stability is restored," U Myo Swe said.

Yanghee Lee, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, said the internet shutdown could have the precise opposite effect, however.

"As there is no media access and serious restrictions on humanitarian organisations in the conflict-affected area, the entire region is in a blackout," she said in a statement. "I fear for all civilians there, cut off and without the necessary means to communicate with people inside and outside the area."

Lee said the UN had been informed the Tatmadaw was conducting a "clearance operation" which "we all know by now can be a cover for committing gross human rights violations against the civilian population."

Shawn Crispin, the senior Southeast Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said the shutdown "deliberately impedes journalists' ability to send, receive, and publish reports from Rakhine and Chin states."

Online blackout

Yet there is little evidence to support justifications for the bans -- particularly nationwide ones -- which experts say do not hinder terrorists and may increase the amount of fake news and rumors being spread because they can't easily be rebutted.

Adrian Shahbaz, a researcher at Washington-based Freedom House, said that "shutdowns are a blunt instrument for interrupting the spread of disinformation online. Citizens are denied access to communication tools at a time when they need them the most to dispel rumors, check in with family, or avoid dangerous areas."