Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was elected after controversial elections, blocked social media platform X (previously known as Twitter) for 10 days in the country on Thursday, August 8 night.
According to the Associated Press, the president gave these orders after he was engaged in a heated argument with owner Elon Musk. He blamed the tech giant for using his social media platform to promote hatred in the country after the disputed elections.
Maduro, in a speech after a pro-government march, said, “Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules of the social network itself,” alleging he has ‘incited hatred.’
The president said that he has signed a resolution ‘with the proposal made by CONATEL, the National Telecommunications Commission, which has decided to remove the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, from circulation in Venezuela for 10 days so that they can present their documents.’
Maduro exclaimed, “X out for 10 days! Elon Musk out!”
For the unversed, after the disputed election in Venezuela, in which the electoral authority declared Maduro the winner while the opposition claimed that it had won a record 80%, Musk accuses the president of ‘electoral fraud.’ The SpaceX owner wrote, “Shame on the dictator, Maduro.”
