Social network X remains blocked in Venezuela after more than 10 days

• Nicolás Maduro temporarily suspended the platform on August 8 after accusing it of “sowing violence” in the country

The social network X, formerly known as Twitter, remains blocked in Venezuela, after the the 10 days of temporary suspension announced by Nicolás Maduro and without the authorities having provided any new information on the matter.

At least 12 days after the president’s announcement, it is still impossible to access this platform without the use of virtual private networks (VPNs), the anti-filtering programs that have become popular in the country to bypass the blocks imposed by the state-owned National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel).

Although Maduro and the President of Parliament, Jorge Rodríguez, spoke on Monday, August 19, about the “damage” caused by social networks, neither of them referred directly to the suspension of X. The measure was initially ordered due to the attempt by this platform to “sow violence” in the country, according to what the president said at the time.

Photo: Pixabay

Accusations against Elon Musk

During his weekly television show, Maduro repeatedly mentioned X’s owner, South African tycoon Elon Musk, whom he accuses of promoting fascism and violence in Venezuela.

“Elon Musk and X out of Latin America,” the president said, without referring to the suspension, after considering that Musk “made a mistake and crashed” with Venezuela.

On August 8, Maduro asked the US company to present its documents – without specifying which ones – and wait for Conatel to establish a “definitive administrative measure,” which remains unknown.

Website and application blocking

Following the presidential elections held in Venezuela on July 28 and the announcement by the National Electoral Council (CNE) that Nicolás Maduro was the winner, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Ve Sin Filtro has reported the blocking of various news pages, websites and applications.

One of the affected pages was the one created by the Comando Con Venezuela for the review of electoral records (resultadosconvzla.com). Several media outlets and the Signal application were also affected.

Among the affected websites are the newspaper Versión Final, which had its domain removed, as well as La Prensa Lara, Reddit, Statista and MercadoLibre. In addition, Ve Sin Filtro reported on August 9 about a blockage of Microsoft services.

State agencies stopped using X

Since then, state institutions – including the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), the National Assembly and the National Electoral Council (CNE) – and the highest government authorities stopped using X to publicize their actions, in the midst of a political crisis due to the allegation of fraud in the presidential elections of July 28, in which Maduro was announced as the winner.

Instead, heads of public power and spokespersons for Nicolás Maduro’s government migrated to platforms such as Telegram and Instagram, while opposition leaders and non-governmental organizations continue to use X as the main disseminator of their activities and statements.

Videos circulated on social media, some spread by the opposition, which explains how to install VPN, a practice that was already promoted by dozens of digital media outlets, whose domains are blocked.

With information from EFE

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