Venezuela President blocks social media platform X for 10 days

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro escalated tensions with the social media platform X and its owner, Elon Musk, by imposing a 10-day ban on the platform in the country, following uproar over a contested presidential election.

Maduro on Thursday (Aug 8) said he signed a resolution presented by the regulator Conatel, which "has decided to take the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, out of circulation for 10 days," accusing Elon Musk of inciting hate, civil war, and death.

"X get out of Venezuela for 10 days!" he said in a speech which was broadcast on state television.

Notably, Maduro and Musk have often traded barbs over X. Musk has comparedthe Venezuelan president to a donkey, while Maduro has blamed Musk for being a driving force behind protests and dissent following the election.

They have also offered and accepted challenges to fight each other in comments on X and via Venezuelan state television.

The temporary ban on X marks another strike against the Big Tech, following Maduro's call earlier this week for supporters to abandon Meta-owned WhatsApp in favor of Telegram or WeChat. He claimed that WhatsApp was being used to threaten the families of soldiers and police officers.

However, WhatsApp declined to comment and X too did not immediately respond to requests.

Venezuela's electoral authority announced Maduro the winner of the July 28 presidential election with about 51% of the vote, even though it has yet to produce the voting tallies.

The declaration sparked widespread allegation of scam and protests which were promoted across social media. Local advocacy group the Venezuelan Observatory for Social Conflict reports at least 23 people have been killed in protests.

Demonstration from Venezuelans broke out across the country demanding Maduro step down andhonour a win by opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.

The opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado and Gonzalez, claims to have copies of the voting tallies showing that it won the election with more than 7 million votes, compared to Maduro's 3.3 million votes.
This result aligns closely with predictions from independent exit polls.

Countries including the US, Argentina and Chile have refused to recognise Maduro's claimed victory, andhave urgedtransparency and the publication of the voting tallies.

(With inputs from agencies)