CARACUS:” Say no to WhatsApp”! and” Hate on TikTok and Instagram” Cuban President Nicolas Maduro is slaming it on social media despite being a normal person himself.
What changed? The programs ‘ role in spreading news about extensive demonstrations against his election.
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the leftist president, won the election on July 28 with 52 % of the ballot, beating him on the count and claiming victory. He also asserts that he has evidence to support his allegations of state scam.
When the result was announced, protests broke away, leaving at least 24 lifeless as of Tuesday, according to human rights organizations, and some 2, 000 detained, according to Maduro.
Among the most used hashtags on the X network ( formerly Twitter ) were #fraud and# VenezuelaLibre, as well as# HastaElFinal (” Push to the end” ), the mantra of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was not a candidate due to disqualification.
At the other end of the spectrum was# GanoMaduro ( MaduroWon ).
The demonstrations, some in poorer districts, were frequently covered on social network, while most traditional advertising remained silent according to alleged censorship and self-censorship.
Maduro said the social media content amounted to promoting “hate”, “fascism”, “division” and” hazards”.
” They used the electoral process (… ) to spread hatred on TikTok and Instagram. I remind TikTok and Instagram of their role in spreading anger to separate Venezuelans”, he said, asking his Security Council for “recommendations” to oversee social media to stop the” legal cyber-fascist revolution d’etat”.
They are” conscious multipliers of hatred and fascism”, said Maduro, who also accuses X owner Elon Musk of orchestrating the “attacks against Venezuela” and being behind a “massive hack” of the National Electoral Council ( CNE ) system, which has not yet been looked into.
” Terror plan”
At a Monday rally held at the presidential palace in Miraflores, Maduro declared,” I’m going to bust ties with WhatsApp.”
I’m going to permanently remove my WhatsApp account because it’s being used to intimidate Venezuela.
Maduro called for a “voluntary, democratic and radical” removal of the game, owned by the American firm Meta along with Facebook and Instagram.
In his programme on state television, he uninstalled the software, which is commonly used in Venezuela, sit on cameras.
” The possibility that they may try to block access to WhatsApp is never entirely unreasonable. Cuba did but in 2021 during huge protests”, David Aragort, a modern security analyst at the NGO Redes Ayuda, explained to AFP.
Machado, banned from television and radio channels in the country, speaks primarily through social media.
” They want to intimidate us so that we do n’t communicate, because if we’re isolated we’d be much weaker and that’s not going to happen”, she said in an audio broadcast on social media from hiding.
Videos of the presentations that took place on July 29 were circulated on these websites, along with information against Maduro and in support of the opposition.
Aragort claimed that users have used this system to tell themselves and people about what is happening in the nation. Things “were n’t seen in any traditional national media,” the phrase “live broadcasts of things began to appear.”
It is n’t the president’s first time criticizing social media.
Again in 2022, he called them” activities” to “promote division and hatred”.
However, in general he has been a tremendous individual user and producer of social media.
He and his family Cilia Flores recorded unique content for TikTok during the election campaign, and it was even broadcast live on X, Instagram, and YouTube. His records, so much, remain active.
