The Venezuelan Observatory of Fake News reported the blocking of its portal

The organization VE Sin Filtro indicated that the IPYS Venezuela website was also blocked by the main Internet providers.

The Venezuelan Observatory of Fake News reported on July 12 that its website had been blocked by the country’s main Internet providers. With this, it became the third verification portal for fake news and disinformation whose access is restricted by order of the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel).

“The entire team at the Venezuelan Fake News Observatory regrets that a censorship measure of this type affects the population of Venezuela and its right to verified, diverse and plural information, especially just a few days before presidential elections,” the observatory reported on its X account (formerly Twitter).

🚨BREAKING NEWS: 🛑 Venezuelan Fake News Observatory (fakenewsvenezuela⸱org) page blockedhttps://t.co/zPkeFOAyR7

The website of the @ObservatorioFN was blocked by major Internet operators. According to the review of #VEsinFiltrothe page has…

— VE sin Filtro (@vesinfiltro) July 12, 2024

The organization VE Sin Filtro reported that the blockage may have occurred during the night of July 11 and is present in the services of the state operator CANTV, as well as the private companies Movistar, Digitel and NetUno. Almost in parallel, the blocking of the website of the Press and Society Institute (IPYS Venezuela) by exactly the same providers, in addition to the companies Inter and Airtek, was also reported.

In bell

The blocking of critical news portals has been a practice sustained for years by the government of Nicolás Maduro. However, on this occasion it stands out for focusing on sites specialized in fact-checkingFor example, on July 4, VE Sin Filtro warned that two of the portals It’s Straw y Fake News Hunters were blocked on most carriers.

This coincides with the start of the campaign for the presidential elections on July 28, a time when disinformation tends to proliferate on social media for political purposes, to support or damage the image of a candidate. In this case, one of the main targets of fake news has been the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, as well as the leader of Vente Venezuela, María Corina Machado.

Photo: Pixabay

These portals had detected months ago the emergence of a propaganda campaign based on the use of bots and promoted content to spread this type of disinformation messages. In some cases from fake accounts or accounts created especially for this purpose, and in others from consolidated news portals linked to the government, such as Venezuela News, Globovisión or El Universal.

The portals of fact-checking The blocked parties also investigated the appearance of multiple false or questionable polls, which published surveys in which the candidate for reelection, Nicolás Maduro, allegedly led the voting intention over González Urrutia, although without showing the data or methodology to validate these numbers. In many cases, these surveys were disseminated by the previous portals and accounts.

Evade censorship

Accessing news portals in the country has been an exercise in resistance in recent years. Sometimes they can be accessed through some fiber optic or satellite Internet services, although most of the time they are Domain Name System (DNS) blocks, which make it impossible to open these pages from Venezuela.

Secure Connection launched the News Without Filter app: — Photo: @georgettesahhar

Initially, configuring the browser’s DNS was enough to resolve the issue, but nowadays, blockages have become more complex, requiring changing the device’s IP address. To do this, different organizations recommend using a Virtual Private Network (VPN), services that serve to camouflage the IP to simulate that the device is located in another country.

There are currently several VPNs on the market that provide this feature, in some cases as free programs or applications, although many charge for it. In light of this, on June 25 it was announced the launch of Unfiltered Newsa mobile app that allows you to read free content from an alliance of independent media outlets that are blocked in the country.