The dispute with social media platform owner Elon Musk escalated after Maduro was declared the winner of last month’s elections.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has ordered a ten-day ban on the social media platform X amid the unrest in the country over a disputed election.
Maduro accused X owner Elon Musk on Thursday of “inciting hatred and fascism” and said he had signed a resolution by telecommunications regulator Conatel “deciding to shut down the social network X, formerly known as Twitter, for ten days.”
“Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated all the rules of the social network itself,” Maduro said after a march by pro-government groups.
“X, get out of Venezuela for 10 days!” he said in a speech broadcast on state television.
Electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 election with 51.2 percent of the vote, but have not yet released exact results. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who was leading in opinion polls, received 44.2 percent.
The announcement sparked numerous allegations of fraud, which also spread on social media. Protests broke out across the country and abroad, demanding Maduro’s resignation and recognition of a victory for Gonzalez.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the foreign ministers of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico called on the National Electoral Council (CNE) to publish the vote totals.
The opposition said it had won a landslide victory and warned on Thursday of a possible mass exodus if Maduro remains in power.
Maduro and Musk have frequently exchanged accusations and jibes, with the billionaire comparing the president to a donkey. They have also challenged each other and accepted combat challenges in comments on X and on Venezuelan state television.
Musk used the social network to accuse the president of “major electoral fraud” and also wrote in a post on Monday: “Shame on the dictator Maduro.”
Maduro accused Musk of being a driving force behind the post-election protests and resistance.
This week, Maduro also urged his supporters to abandon Meta’s own WhatsApp in favor of Telegram or WeChat, saying the messaging app was being used to threaten the families of soldiers and police officers.
The opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado and Gonzalez, says it has copies of the vote count showing that it won the election with more than seven million votes, while Maduro received 3.3 million votes.
Countries such as the United States, Argentina and Chile have not recognized Maduro’s alleged victory and have instead called for transparency and the publication of election results. China and Russia have congratulated Maduro on his victory.
“The voices of Venezuelan voters will not be silenced by repression, censorship or disinformation. The world is watching,” said Brian A. Nichols, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, in a post on X.
