The telecommunications agency has “decided to remove the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, from circulation in Venezuela for 10 days,” Nicolas Maduro announced on Thursday, August 8.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose re-election is being contested by the opposition, which claims victory, announced on Thursday, August 8, during a demonstration in his favor in Caracas that the social network X was “withdrawn from circulation” for ten days.
“No one will silence me, I will confront the espionage of the technological empire. Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules of the social network Twitter, which has become X, and has violated them by inciting hatred and fascism,” declared Nicolas Maduro, who regularly accuses the American billionaire of plotting against him.
A contested election
Nicolas Maduro has not specified what form this “withdrawal from circulation” will take. Venezuelan authorities (personalities, ministries, government agencies) are present on social networks where they communicate extensively.
The president announced on Monday that he was withdrawing from WhatsApp while criticizing social networks for attempting a “criminal cyberfascist coup” in the wake of his contested election.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) ratified on Friday, August 2, the victory of Nicolas Maduro with 52% of the vote without, however, making public the exact vote count and the minutes of the polling stations, assuring that it had been the victim of computer hacking.
According to the opposition, which published the minutes obtained through its scrutineers (whose validity is rejected by Nicolas Maduro), Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had replaced at short notice the leader of the opposition Maria Corina Machado (declared ineligible), won the election with 67% of the votes.
The opposition and many observers believe that the hacking of the CNE was an invention of the government to avoid having to publish the minutes of the polling stations.
