Venezuela’s Maduro goes after X and WhatsApp

Article content

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is trying to accomplish something that seems impossible in the South American country: steer people away from WhatsApp and X.

Article content

Maduro’s announcement this week that he had ordered a 10-day block on access to X in Venezuela is the latest in a series of efforts by his government to try to suppress information sharing among people voicing doubts about his claim to victory in the July 28 presidential election.

It also reveals how every aspect of Venezuela’s government is subject to Maduro’s wants and needs, as he went from demanding his Cabinet to retweet his posts in May to ordering the nation’s telecommunications agency on Thursday to block access to X.

“X out for 10 days! Elon Musk out!” Maduro said Thursday as he announced his decision to temporarily ban the social network and accused its owner, tech billionaire Elon Musk, of using it to promote hatred after Venezuela’s disputed presidential election.

Article content

Article content

Maduro, who also accused the social network of being used by his opponents to create political unrest, gave the company 10 days to “present their documents,” but he gave no additional details.

The government’s centralized communications office on Friday did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking a copy of the resolution Maduro said he signed to authorize the ban against X.

X’s press office did not immediately respond to an email from AP requesting comment.

Electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner of the highly anticipated election, but unlike previous presidential contests, they have yet to produce detailed voting tallies to back up their claim. Meanwhile, the opposition revealed it collected tally sheets from more than 80% of the 30,000 electronic voting machines nationwide showing he lost by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

Article content

The dispute drew thousands to the streets in protest to which the government responded with full force. Security forces have since rounded up more than 2,000 people for demonstrating against Maduro or questioning his victory. Venezuela-based human rights organization Provea recorded 24 deaths.

After the election, Musk used X to accuse the self-proclaimed socialist leader of a “great electoral fraud,” drawing Maduro’s rage and a challenge to a “fight.” That’s a reversal for Maduro, who, aware of the key role that social networks play in news consumption in Venezuela, told Cabinet members in May during a televised meeting to support him on social media.

“Who among you does not follow my accounts?” he said. “You are embarrassed to raise your hand, right? All of you? And why don’t you like me? Why don’t you like or retweet? Why? That doesn’t cost anything, it’s a second, boom!”

Article content

A month later, he promoted an Instagram post whose song’s chorus urged people to “Give Nicolas a like, give Nicolas a like,” with a caption including the hashtag #NicoLike.

Fran Monroy, a telecommunications expert in Venezuela, said Maduro’s decision to block X is an escalation of censorship that began several years ago.

“Venezuelan newscasts from the major television networks are not watched because they do not reflect the news reality of the country,” he said. “So, what is left? The emergence of YouTube channels that have been very powerful in terms of the dissemination of information, social networks and in some ways virtual messaging or private messaging apps.”

Earlier this week, Maduro went after Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app, publicly deleting it from his phone during his weekly TV show and urging supporters to switch to competitor Telegram.

Article content

WhatsApp plays an integral role in everyday life in Venezuela. Millions use it not only to chat among friends and family, but also to schedule beauty salon and doctor’s appointments, buy food, hail a cab, send and receive school homework, and hire and fire employees.

Even the ruling party’s vast network of neighborhood leaders depend on the app to distribute subsidized food, take attendance at pro-government events and coordinate voter-mobilizing efforts on election days, including on July 28.

And the country’s main opposition used it to communicate with campaign volunteers, local organizers and others, who contributed to the bloc’s herculean task of securing the tally sheets from polling sites.

“Maduro has pivoted hard from trying to purchase support and mobilize his base through propaganda … to recognizing neither of these strategies will work,” said Will Freeman, a fellow on Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. “As he leans hard on repression to remain in power, he has an incentive to limit communications so Venezuelans and the world see as little of what will unfold as possible.”

Article content

It remained unclear Friday how the government is carrying out the ban on X. Some users in the capital, Caracas, could still access and refresh the application on their phones without using a virtual private network.

Horacio Melendez, however, was among those who could no longer update the posts on the application. Sitting outside a church before going to work, he said he has never posted anti-government messages on his account, which he uses mostly to read what others share. He expressed skepticism over the reasons for the ban.

“That’s where the news is,” Melendez said. “There is a lot of news shared among people, among citizens, about the things that are happening. I imagine that has something to do with the ban as well; it’s not just because of Mr. Elon.”

Article content