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For years now, chavismo has been given the task of positioning its narrative on Twitter. In fact, X, as it has been called since last year, was dyed red in Venezuela for a long time… until now. In a controversial decision and contrary to the logic with which the government’s strategy had been handled in recent years, on Thursday, August 8, Nicolás Maduro sentenced the cessation of Twitter in Venezuela “temporarily”. He blocked it for 10 days.
But what happened and what does the decision to block X in Venezuela really reveal? Is it a planned decision or is it a reaction to the events of the last few weeks? There are several factors to evaluate.
First of all, Nicolás Maduro has Elon Musk, the owner of X, as a new declared enemy. From the ruling party, Musk is accused of participating in a “cyber coup” against his government, of being a fascist and of promoting the protests after July 28. From the United States, Elon Musk accuses Maduro of being a dictator, mocks his intelligence and even invites him to a fight. However, this may not be the only reason.
Accustomed to impose and contaminate for years the socio-political trends of X, mainly inorganically, with bots or accounts of people paid by the State to amplify their messages; during the elections and the following days, the narrative of chavismo was losing space within the online conversation.
Before, during and after the elections, civil society engaged in the search for and dissemination of information on digital platforms. Not only did they talk about the process, but X also served as a network to denounce the disproportionate violence of the government against dissidents in Venezuela who came out to protest.
Twitter stopped being chavista?
In July, the regime positioned 51 trends that totaled around 1,740,349 tweets, representing 54.8% of the hashtags and 37% of the messages in X in Venezuela during the month. This is not a strange figure.
For the past five years, ProBox has been dedicated to the study of socio-political activity on this platform, and since this record began, we have documented how chavismo, despite arguing a supposed imaginary war of algorithms against Maduro, has systematically managed to contaminate the conversation in this and other social media platforms through different methods:
- Bonus to the “Tuiteros de la Patria” (tweeters of the Homeland) and promotion of MIPPCI’s “hashtag of the day”.
- Use of public institutions to amplify online propaganda
- Disinformation, attacks and defamation by the most radical spokespersons of Chavism
- Proxy Media.
However, on July 30, for the first time since we started our monitoring in X in 2019, MIPPCI did not promote any hashtag of the day and neither did the Officialism position any trend.
All the trends registered that day were of citizen protest, demanding the audit of the electoral records and the freedom of Venezuela (e.g. #VenezuelaLibreDeDictadura, #YoDefiendoMiVoto, #MuestrenLasActas). In total, 5 hashtags promoted by civil society were positioned, totaling around 695,700 tweets.
And although on July 31, MIPPCI returned with its routine with “#VenezuelaEsPaz,” it failed to trend.
In the first week of August, the normal activity of the ruling party in X was maintained, according to what we have observed since 2019: daily tags promoted by the MIPPCI (e.g. #PuebloDeJusticia with 62,700 tweets appx.), propaganda from other governmental entities (e.g. #ClapPazYVictoria with 1,000 tweets appx.) and tags from other fronts of the ruling party such as “Con el Mazo Dando” (e.g. #TunTunLlegóLaPaz with 43,046 tweets appx.). However, other actors (civil society, political parties, NGOs, media) surpassed the conversation of the Officialism online.
Our data show that while in the week of the elections, between July 22 and 28, the ruling party positioned 13 trends with around 326,066 tweets, in the week from August 5 to 11, they only managed to position 11 trends and 157,033 tweets appx. That is, 3 trends and 48.15% less messages.
But Chavismo’s loss of control of space in X is evidenced by the impact before and after the elections.
If we analyze the rest of the actors as a whole in that same period, between July 22 and July 28, we notice that they positioned 22 trends that totaled at least 1,846,762 messages, especially for the coverage of the electoral process of July 28. This represents 85% of the messages, leaving the Venezuelan regime with only 15% of them.
These data are very relevant if we take into account that Chavismo has been given the task in the last years of contaminating the conversation on social media. In 2023 alone, the Officialism dominated the conversation in X with 81.15% of the trends (663) and 95.25% of the tweets (195,358,730 appx.), with the MIPPCI account acting as the main promoter of hashtags.
Last year, MIPPCI accounted for 50.06% of the total trends registered in X; but its dominance was even much greater at the message level, as these trends managed to group 90.66% of the tweets (185,953,228 appx).
The change in tweet activity in the last week of July reflects a greater attention from civil society, national and international media, Venezuelans in exile and political parties on the events in Venezuela and the election process that could mean the exit of Chavism from power.
Chavismo left the space on Twitter
On August 8, after Maduro announced the blocking of X in Venezuela and users of the platform began to report the impossibility of accessing it, we continue to record official activity.
The last hashtag promoted by MIPPCI was “#HastaProntoX” on August 9, which trended with only 3,128 tweets. The message associated with the hashtag reads as a sort of farewell that justified what would be the end of a consolidated dynamic for driving narrative on social media. “The peace of the people comes first”.
#9Ago 🇻🇪 📢 ¡ETIQUETA DEL DÍA! ▶️#HastaProntoX
¡La Paz del pueblo está primero! pic.twitter.com/FyinzB5wX7
— MIPPCI (@Mippcivzla) August 9, 2024
Since then, the ruling party has not promoted any X-hashtag.
The cessation of pro-government activity in the positioning of trends resulted in the fact that on Saturday, August 10, for the first time since we began the study of the conversation on Twitter (X) in Venezuela, no hashtags were registered as trending on the network. However, on Sunday, August 11, we did register socio-political hashtags.
The hashtag #GanóVzla became a trending topic in the afternoon hours, promoted by the unitary opposition, mainly replicating the message of María Corina Machado inviting to a great worldwide protest on August 17; achieving an accumulation of approximately 46,200 messages.
Este mensaje es para ti, que no te reconoces en la Venezuela de hoy, que estás cansado de tener a tu familia separada, que votaste y quieres que se respete lo que decidiste el 28 de julio.
Nos vemos el próximo sábado 17 en la Gran Protesta Mundial por la VERDAD.
Actívate en… pic.twitter.com/hEIPsPxe2x
— María Corina Machado (@MariaCorinaYA) August 11, 2024
But the impact of civil society, media, NGOs and political parties in the online conversation was already growing before Chavismo’s decision to “go away” and block X.
More than hashtags, keywords
Due to the boom of the socio-political conversation on social media, motivated by the elections in Venezuela, from ProBox we wanted to delve deeper into the dates around this electoral event, taking into account the words or phrases that managed to trend in X, beyond the hashtags, during and after the elections.
On July 28, the day of the presidential election, 14 words or phrases were trending in Venezuela in X, beyond the hashtags that were positioned in the network. Only one of them was promoted by the regime; the rest were part of the conversation of the different actors that converge in X. For example, the phrase “Ya voté” (I already voted), with 43,400 messages promoted mainly by civil society, referring to participation in the electoral process.
On July 29, the phrases that managed to trend were included in messages promoted by the media, NGOs, civil society and dissident political parties of the ruling party, highlighting eight keywords within the post-electoral conversation. The most relevant were: “El CNE” with approximately 602,000 messages, “Fraude electoral” (Electoral fraud) with at least 384,000 and “Colectivos” (name of irregular groups) with around 474,000. The three had the highest number of mentions and were framed within the conversation about the beginning of protests and allegations of fraud in the results presented by the “electoral arbiter” before the presidential elections.
By July 30, civil society denunciations starred in the trends on X, including the phrase “Venezuela libre de Maduro” (Venezuela free of Maduro), which remained on the social platform with around 15,200 messages.
In addition, words that were trending for more than a day stand out, in the midst of a conversation focused on the elections and the repercussions after 28J. These words and phrases respond to narratives around the leader María Corina Machado, the registration of protests, the minutes presented by the opposition, as well as complaints about arrests and persecution of opposition leaders and civil society in general, demonstrating the focus that has been given to the platform to talk about what is happening in the country.
“María Corina” was one of the phrases that accumulated the most messages, remaining a trend from July 28 until at least July 31, with more than 1.37 million tweets.
This was accompanied by:
- The word “actas” (electoral rolls) was trending from July 28 to July 31 with more than 1.3 million messages. This word frames the conversation about the lack of publication of the electoral minutes by the CNE, as well as the publication of the minutes by the opposition.
- “Golpe” (Coup) was trending between July 29 and 30 with around 11,200 mixed messages denouncing “coup d’état”. In this case, both the ruling party and the opposition used the word to accuse each other.
- “No al saqueo” (No to looting) kept trending between July 29 and 30 promoted by civil society asking protesters to avoid looting stores. It totaled around 5,450 messages.
- “Macedonia del Norte” (North Macedonia), remained in the trending list between July 29 and 30 due to the statements that the alleged hacking of the CNE came from this country. This trend managed to accumulate 28,000 messages from different actors, as media outlets reporting the information provided by the government, citizens criticizing these statements and government supporters supporting them.
- “Petare”, was trending between July 29 and 30. It managed to accumulate more than 389,000 messages on the great “cacerolazo” in the area as a protest against Maduro, as well as the increase of demonstrations rejecting the results issued by the CNE and the intimidation of “colectivos” in the area. “Catia”, was trending for the same reason, also between both days, totaling around 12,100 messages.
- The word “VenApp” was trending since July 30 for more than 24 hours with more than 80,400 tweets. It trended as a result of Maduro’s call to use the app to anonymously denounce people calling for protests.
- “Freddy Superlano” remained trending between July 30 and 31, totaling around 90,400 messages. The conversation began with the arbitrary detention of the opposition leader by State agents.
- “Centro Carter” was trending all of July 31 with more than 300 thousand messages, following the publication of the report questioning the elections in Venezuela.
What X represents in Venezuela
The social media platform X is the first one that Nicolás Maduro publicly blocks for a specific period of time and under the threat that the measure will be permanent. However; the question that is in the air is whether he will do the same with the others, and although the weight of X may seem low, compared to the number of active users in other networks, the use given to it in Venezuela makes it indispensable for the construction of public opinion on what is happening in the country.
According to DataReportal’s Global Digital Report 2024, Venezuela has 21.37 million active mobile cellular connections at the beginning of 2024, equivalent to 73.4% of the total population. Of this sample, 14.05 million active social media user identities were counted in January of this year.
While Facebook has 14.05 million users in Venezuela, Instagram 8.15 million and TikTok 12.35 million users; X would be among the last in number of users, with 2.31 million. However, it is in this social network where more information is shared among people who want to know what is happening in the country from independent sources and even participate as activists or info citizens of their communities.
In fact, Elon Musk himself republished information about how on July 30 X was on the list of most downloaded apps in Venezuela in “news”.
#1 in Venezuela https://t.co/rpHmpoYqaO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 30, 2024
The censorship measure against X represents the blocking of the social media platform that is most directed to the informed public in Venezuela. Many opinion leaders, journalists and independent media congregate in this network and replicate verified information, serving as important referents for people to find out in the country; as part of this informative cascade to circumvent censorship in traditional media and webs, many times originating on social media, ends up migrating to other applications, whether or not they are in X,
This blockade further isolates Venezuelans inside the country and makes it difficult to access information that is not controlled by the State in order to know what is really happening in Venezuela.
Twitter (X) es una red fundamental para el periodismo independiente y el activismo ciudadano debido a la censura masiva de medios tradicionales. El bloqueo de esta plataforma no solo es una violación a la libertad de expresión, sino a los derechos digitales de los venezolanos ❌…
— ProBox (@ProBoxVE) August 9, 2024
Although the decision to remove X from Venezuela reflects a loss of power of Chavismo in the management, control or manipulation of public discourse on social media, the question that many people are asking today is whether this blockade will be maintained and above all, whether it will permeate to other social networks as an authoritarian measure to further restrict freedom of expression in Venezuela considering the increase of blocked portals between August 9 and 11.
