President Maduro suspends X in Venezuela

Caracas: President Nicolas Maduro said he has ordered a 10-day block on access to X in Venezuela, accusing the owner Elon Musk of using the social network to promote hatred after the country's disputed presidential election. Associated Press journalists in Caracas found that by Thursday night posts had stopped loading on X on two private telephone services and state-owned Movilnet. "Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules of the social network itself," said Maduro in a speech following a march by pro-government groups. Maduro alleged Musk "has incited hatred."

Maduro also accused the social network of being used by his opponents to create political unrest. Venezuela's president said he had 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 did not provide more details about the process taken against X.

X's press office did not immediately respond to an email from AP requesting comment. "X out for 10 days! Elon Musk out!" Maduro said. The president's announcement comes after Maduro and Musk exchanged accusations over Venezuela's disputed July 28 presidential election. Electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner but have yet to produce voting tallies. Meanwhile, the opposition claims to have collected records from more than 80 per cent of the 30,000 electronic voting machines nationwide showing the winner was their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez.