Venezuela unrest: President Nicolas Maduro blocks access to X for 10 days, says report

Venezuela unrest: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has signed a decree which blocks access to social media site X (formerly known as Twitter), in the violence hit country for 10 days, Reuters reported.

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

Maduro reasoned that the decree, signed on August 8, was because social media was used to incite violence following the country's presidential election, the report added.

The leader has often spoken out against X owner and prolific social media poster Elon Musk for his views on the platform, sine the July 28 election. After the election results were announced, the opposition said it won, a claim backed by an increasing numbers of Western governments.

Maduro said he signed a decree presented by regulator Conatel which “has decided to take social network X, formerly known as Twitter, out of circulation for 10 days”.

Unrest in Venezuela

Maduro and Venezuela's electoral authority have said that the president won a third term in the election, though the opposition claimed victory and says it has the vote counts to prove it. Neither Maduro nor the electoral body have released detailed vote tallies, the Reuters report added.

In the days after the vote, Venezuelans across the country erupted in protests demanding that Maduro step down and to honour opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez's “win”. Notably, the protests were largely promoted through social media, the report said.

The leftist president earlier this week had asked his supporters to also abandon messaging application WhatsApp in favor of Telegram or WeChat, saying the app was being used to threaten the families of soldiers and police officers.

Maduro vs Musk

Maduro has butted heads with Musk publicly since the election, who he blamed for “inciting hate, civil war, and death”, it said.

Representatives for X did not immediately respond to queries, the report added.

Earlier, the foreign ministers of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil in a joint statement reiterated calls for Venezuela's electoral authority to publish the vote tallies. This came after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on August 8, urged Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to “impress upon Maduro” that his best option is to negotiate with the country's opposition.

(With inputs from Reuters)