Venezuela’s Maduro blocks X access in country for 10 days

CARACAS (Reuters) : Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday took tensions with social media platform X and its owner Elon Musk to new heights, banning the platform in the South American country for 10 days amid furore over a disputed presidential election.

Maduro said he signed a resolution presented by regulator Conatel which “has decided to take social network X, formerly known as Twitter, out of circulation for 10 days” and accused Musk of inciting hate, civil war, and death.

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

Maduro and Musk have frequently traded barbs over X, with the platform’s owner comparing the Venezuelan president to a donkey, while Maduro has blamed Musk for being a driving force behind protests and dissent following the election.

They have also offered and accepted challenges to fight each other in comments on X and via Venezuelan state television.

The temporary ban on X represents another swipe at Big Tech, after Maduro this week urged supporters to abandon Meta-owned (META.O), opens new tab WhatsApp in favor of Telegram or WeChat, saying the messaging app was being used to threaten the families of soldiers and police officers.

WhatsApp declined to comment. X did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Venezuela’s electoral authority proclaimed Maduro the winner of the July 28 presidential election with some 51% of the vote, although it has yet to produce the voting tallies.