Amid a crusade against social media, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, accused TikTok, owned by Chinese businessman Zhang Yiming, of promoting a civil war in Venezuela.
The accusations against the owners of the microvideo platform arise as the international community questions whether Maduro won the elections on July 28, and the Venezuelan people have taken to the streets to reject the official count.
Maduro also ordered the blocking of other networks like X last week, and previously asked Venezuelans to delete Whatsapp, platforms through which the population stays informed amid widespread censorship in Venezuela.
“Look at how immoral TikTok is, I accuse the executives and owners of TikTok worldwide of wanting a civil war in Venezuela, of supporting fascism in Latin America and in the world,” he said in a meeting with high-ranking state officials.
Likewise, the chavista dictator criticized that the platform has suspended its ability to perform live broadcasts after a transmission that showed an exhibition by Attorney General Tarek William Saab on the violence related to the electoral protests, which have left 25 dead and more than 2,400 detained, according to state sources.
In response, Maduro ordered the suspension of TikTok in Venezuela for a period of 10 days.
"The acts of violence come from you, all those videos are from TikTok," he said, justifying his decision.
He accused the social network of broadcasting acts of violence live during the peak days of protest against his electoral victory, including assaults on public facilities, which the dictator attributed to the main opposition coalition.
Last week, Maduro ordered the blocking of the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, for a period of ten days in Venezuela; and he accused its owner, Elon Musk, of being part of a "cyber coup" against him.
Just as he did now with TikTok, he justified the censorship of this platform by arguing that it is used to sow violence and hatred from abroad.
The decision, announced this Thursday, aims for the company, owned by Elon Musk, to present "guarantees" to the Venezuelan authorities. This was stated by Maduro during a political event in which he again lashed out at the South African-born magnate.
The allegations of electoral fraud orchestrated by chavismo are exacerbated by the National Electoral Council (CNE)'s delay in publishing the official results, which has provoked international criticism.
The Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the main opposition alliance, has published 83.5% of the electoral records that would confirm that the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, would be the legitimate winner of the elections with more than a 30-point lead.
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