The Speaker of the Venezuelan Parliament, Jorge Rodriguez, announced on Monday that legislators plan to address post-election violence that has claimed 25 lives with new laws focussing on the regulation of social media and non-governmental organisations.
“The parliamentary recess will be suspended to approve a series of laws to protect and defend our population from hate […] from terrorism and the spread of fascist and hateful ideas on social networks,” Rodriguez declared at a meeting of the Defence and State Council.
“Nations have distinct models for handling the issue of social media that infect society with contrary values,” commented President Maduro, a frequent user of social media who suspended ‘X’ for ten days on Friday and is regularly critical of platforms such as Whatsapp and TikTok.
The suspension of ‘X’ and the campaign against social networks are “an escalation in the system of censorship," Giulio Cellini, Director of political consulting firm Logconsultancy, commented on Friday.
"The government identifies social media as the mechanism through which people can access information," he explained "This is part of this dark chapter we are going through.”
