President Nicolás Maduro said he had ordered a 10-day block on access to X in Venezuela, accusing the owner, Elon Musk, of using the social network to promote hatred after the country’s disputed presidential election.
Associated Press (AP) journalists in Caracas found that by Thursday night posts had stopped loading on X on two private telephone services and the state-owned Movilnet.
“Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules of the social network itself,” said Maduro in a speech after a march by pro-government groups. He alleged Musk had “incited hatred”.
Maduro also accused the social network of being used by his opponents to create political unrest.
Venezuela’s president said he had signed a resolution “with the proposal made by Conatel, the National Telecommunications Commission, which has decided to remove the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, from circulation in Venezuela for 10 days so that they can present their documents”. Maduro did not provide more details about the process taken against X.
“X out for 10 days! Elon Musk out!” Maduro said.
X’s press office did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
Maduro and Musk have exchanged accusations over Venezuela’s disputed presidential election on 28 July.
Electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner but had yet to produce voting tallies. The opposition claims to have collected records from more than 80% of the 30,000 electronic voting machines nationwide showing the winner was its candidate, Edmundo González.
Musk used the social network to accuse the self-proclaimed socialist leader of a “great electoral fraud”. “Shame on the dictator Maduro,” Musk said in a post on Monday.
Since the election, Maduro has expressed the need to “regulate” social networks in Venezuela. He also claimed the social platform was used by his adversaries to threaten the families of his followers and political allies, military personnel, police officers and to generate a state of anxiety in Venezuela.
Source: theguardian.com
