Twitter suspends over a dozen Venezuelan government, military accounts
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Officials criticised the move shortly after theaccountswere first suspended on Tuesday, without explanation or any announcement fromTwitter. Some of theaccountsinitially suspended, including those of the central bank and finance ministry, were later restored.
"Alert! People of Venezuela, the oppressive government of the USA blocked theTwitteraccount for CEOFANB and others,"militarycommander Remigio Ceballos wrote onTwitter, referring to the Bolivarian Armed Forces' Strategic Operational command.
Twitterin a statement Wednesday said the service has "proactive systems" which aim to detect "platform manipulations," but that such systems can commit errors which account owners are welcome to appeal.
The company, which offered no further comment on theVenezuelanmatter, often discloses takedowns of information operations that seek to manipulate its platform.
In December,Twittersuspended tens of thousands ofaccountslinked to a Saudi company digging up political dissidents' personal data, and in September it blocked the account of Cuban Communist Party leader Raul Castro.
It also announced three separate removals ofVenezuelanaccountslast year, two in January and one in June, representing a total of nearly 2,000accounts, some of them part of "a state-backed influence campaign targeting domestic audiences."
WhileTwitterinitially suspected the removedVenezuelanaccountswere associated with Russia's Internet Research Agency, in June it said it had new indications they were being operated by "a commercial entity originating in Venezuela."
Social media companies globally are under pressure to stem illicit online political influence campaigns.