Nicolas Maduro, reeling from protests over his disputed re-election, says Chinese-owned company has suspended his access to the platform. — SCMP
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Aug 13 accused TikTok of seeking to stoke civil war in his country after the Chinese-owned company blocked live-streaming services on his account.
Maduro claimed the app suspended his access to the short-video platform until August 19.
“Look how immoral TikTok is. I accuse the directors and owners of TikTok of wanting a civil war in Venezuela, of supporting fascism in Latin America and the world,” Maduro said during a meeting of the country’s defence council.
“They are responsible for the victory of (Argentine President Javier) Milei and the fascists,” Maduro added. “They have an alliance with fascism in Venezuela and throughout Latin America.”
The Venezuelan leader said he received an automated message from TikTok justifying the suspension by accusing his profile of “promoting violence”.
In response, Maduro alleged that the platform was promoting “violent protests” carried out by his opponents.
“I want to tell the immoral thugs on TikTok that they are the ones promoting violence by live-streaming (the protests) on the 29th, 30th and 31st of July and the following days for thousands of people.
“Everyone who installed TikTok knew what (the opposition) was up to and could watch all the attacks live.”
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This is the second time Maduro has spoken out against the social-media platform, which is owned by Chinese technology company ByteDance.
The Venezuelan leader claims to have won the country’s presidential election held on July 28 against opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez and has repeatedly criticised foreign apps of spreading allegations of fraud.
TikTok has 12.35 million users in Venezuela, according to DataReportal, citing figures from ByteDance.
Earlier Maduro called on the Venezuelan public to uninstall WhatsApp, an instant-messaging service. He has also ordered that X, formerly Twitter, be blocked temporarily across the country and has exchanged insults with its owner, Elon Musk.
Venezuela has been rocked by fierce unrest and public discontent for weeks after the country’s electoral council, comprised of Maduro’s allies, announced his re-election for another six-year term.
Gonzalez’s allies have gathered results from 83.5% of polling stations across the country, contending that the opposition leader, a former diplomat who once served as Venezuela’s ambassador to Argentina, won the election by nearly 3.9 million votes.
The vote tally sheets signed by the heads of each electoral district and released by the opposition leaders were attested as accurate by several independent bodies.
In early August, researchers from the University of Michigan’s department of statistics analysed the tally sheets and declared with 99.5% certainty that Gonzalez had won the election.
Maduro has refused to concede defeat and has yet to release the final voting figures proving his victory. When pressed by opponents, he said on social media he had already ordered “three prisons to be made available for those who contest the election results”.
Only China, Russia, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Honduras, Iran, Syria and North Korea have recognised Maduro as the election winner.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement after the election said he considered the results published by the Venezuelan electoral council to be “deeply flawed, yielding an announced outcome that does not represent the will of the Venezuelan people”. Blinken later congratulated Gonzalez on his victory. – South China Morning Post
