It is as anecdotal as anecdotal gets but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a grain of truth to it. McDonalds franchises are expensive by American standards.

It is as anecdotal as anecdotal gets but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a grain of truth to it. McDonalds franchises are expensive by American standards. They are even more expensive by poor country standards. So one has to be pretty rich to open one. In my experience the way people stay rich in poor countries is by sucking up to the government. And the best way to suck up to the government is by outing dissidents. So while I doubt it's corporate policy I can see how it would happen.