Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has instituted a 10-day ban on the popular social media site X after repeated criticism of his rule from the platform’s owner, Elon Musk.
Accusing Musk of "inciting hatred, fascism, civil war, death, and confrontations among Venezuelans," Maduro ordered the government-controlled National Commission of Telecommunications (Conatel) to implement the restrictions.
⚠️ Confirmed: Live metrics show X (formerly Twitter) is now restricted in #Venezuela as contested president Maduro orders regulator Conatel to ban the platform for 10 days, claiming that it promotes civil war; the incident comes a day after similar calls to ban X in the UK #8Ago pic.twitter.com/LuXr6kLBgD
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) August 9, 2024
The outage was confirmed shortly after the announcement by the British free speech watchdog NetBlocks, which determined that local internet providers had limited or no connectivity to the microblog.
The confrontation comes as the two men frequently trade online threats and insults, including offers to fight each other on state television.
Much of Musk’s recent disparagement stems from last month’s internationally condemned elections, which reported Maduro winning with 51 percent of the vote, despite his challenger, Edmundo Gonzalez, alleging that the socialist leader garnered only around 30 percent of the electorate's support.
The official results sparked widespread civil unrest in the South American country, with accusations that the regime's security forces had abducted several opposition members.
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