Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has imposed a 10-day ban on the social media platform X in response to widespread unrest over a contested election, Aljazeera reported.
Maduro on Thursday accused X owner Elon Musk of “inciting hate and fascism”, signing a resolution presented by telecommunications regulator Conatel which “has decided to take social network X, formerly known as Twitter, out of circulation for 10 days”.
“Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules of the social network itself,” Maduro said following a march by pro-government groups.
“X get out of Venezuela for 10 days!” he said in a speech that was broadcast on state television.
Election authorities declared Maduro as the winner of the July 28 election with 51.2 percent of votes, but yet to release detailed results.
The electoral body said opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had been leading in opinion polls, got 44.2 percent.
The announcement led to widespread accusations of fraud which also spread across the social media.
Protests from Venezuelans nationwide and those abroad broke out, demanding Maduro to step down and honour Gonzalez’s alleged victory.
In a joint statement, foreign ministers of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico on Thursday called on the National Electoral Council (CNE) to publish the vote tallies.
The opposition says it won in a landslide and warned of a potential mass exodus if Maduro is allowed to remain in power.
Maduro and Musk have frequently traded accusations with the billionaire comparing the president with a donkey.
They have also offered and accepted challenges to fight each other in comments on X and via Venezuelan state television.
Musk used the social network to accuse the leader of a “great electoral fraud”, also writing in a post on Monday, “Shame on the dictator Maduro”.
Maduro has slammed Musk for being a driving force behind protests and dissent following the election.
Recently, Maduro also urged his supporters to abandon Meta-owned WhatsApp in favour of Telegram or WeChat, saying the messaging app was being used to threaten the families of soldiers and police officers.
The opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado and Gonzalez, says it has copies of the tallies showing it won the election with more than 7 million votes, compared with Maduro’s 3.3 million votes.
Countries including the United States, Argentina, and Chile have refused to recognise Maduro’s claimed victory, instead urging transparency and the publication of the voting tallies.
China and Russia have however congratulated Maduro on his victory.
“The voices of Venezuelan voters will not be silenced by repression, censorship, or disinformation. The world is watching,” Brian A Nichols, the assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs at the US Department of State, said in a post on X.
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