Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whose re-election is being contested by the opposition, which claims victory, has announced that the social network X (formerly Twitter) will be "taken out of circulation" for ten days.
Maduro's announcement was made on Thursday during a rally of supporters in the capital, Caracas.
The agency that manages telecommunications "has decided to withdraw the social network X from circulation in Venezuela for ten days", said Maduro, stressing that the decision was the result of a proposal from him.
"Nobody is going to shut me up, I'm going to stand up to the espionage of the tech empire. Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules of the social network Twitter, now X, and has violated them by inciting hatred and fascism," continued Maduro, who regularly accuses the US billionaire of plotting against him.
Maduro did not specify what form this "withdrawal from circulation" would take.
The Venezuelan authorities (personalities, ministries, government agencies) are present on social networks, where they communicate widely.
On Monday, the President announced that he was withdrawing from the Whatsapp messaging platform, while criticizing social networks for attempting a "criminal cyber-fascist coup" following the contestation of his election.
On Friday, Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) ratified Maduro's victory with 52% of the vote, but did not make public the exact vote count or the minutes of the polling stations, claiming that the system had been hacked.
According to the opposition, which published the minutes obtained by its polling agents - whose validity is rejected by Maduro - Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who replaced opposition leader Maria Corina Machado - who was declared ineligible - won the elections with 67% of the vote.
The opposition and many observers believe that the CNE's hacking is a false claim by the government to avoid having to publish the polling station minutes.
Maduro and the authorities have repeatedly accused Musk of involvement in the cyber attack on the CNE.
The disturbances that followed the proclamation of the President's victory have caused 24 deaths since July 28, according to an updated balance sheet released on Tuesday by human rights organizations, including the Americas division of Human Rights Watch.
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