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Before it was Twitter, now it is TikTok. Chavismo is pulling out all its cards up its sleeve to try to extend its communicational hegemony in a social network that is becoming more and more relevant in Venezuela for the dissemination of political news. Like many other social networks in the country, as a result of censorship in traditional and digital media, TikTok has become a source for Venezuelans to access verified information generated by independent media when looking for socio-political news, according to surveys.
Through a search using “chavismo”, “elecciones presidenciales Venezuela”, “Madurismo”, “Presidenciales Venezuela”, “fraude electoral”, “Edmundo González”, “Maduro Presidente”, among others, we identified 25 preliminary accounts with suspicious behavior; these range from anomalous patterns in posting frequency to the type of content shared. During a detailed monitoring carried out between August 1 and October 31, 2024, we exhaustively analyzed the activity of these accounts.
This first analysis led us to the identification of at least 50 accounts in TikTok that act in a coordinated manner to position narratives in favor of the government and attack the opposition. Their behavior is very similar to that of the “Tuiteros de la Patria“, a network of accounts that disseminate information in X, promoting the etiquette of the day dictated by the Ministry of Communication and Information in Venezuela (MIPPCI). However, these have evolved; it is no longer only tags, phrases and images that are shared, but more elaborate audiovisual content.
The now “Tiktokers de la Patria” (Homeland TikTokers) are trying to play by the rules of a platform that is mainly used by the younger generations.
Why?
Following the blocking of Twitter (now X) in Venezuela after the presidential elections, the ruling party has intensified its activity in other social networks such as TikTok, where they had already been experimenting with campaigns such as “Nico Like” and the referendum on El Esequibo. In this context, Chavismo has consolidated its “digital troop” in other online spaces, disseminating in a coordinated manner videos and contents favoring Nicolás Maduro, while attacking the opposition led by María Corina Machado and Edmundo González.
We began our study by searching in TikTok for general terms such as “chavismo”, “elecciones presidenciales Venezuela”, “Madurismo”, “Presidenciales Venezuela”, “fraude electoral”, “Edmundo González”, “Maduro Presidente”, among others; which led us to identify the first 25 accounts with suspicious behavior.
Further analysis between August and October 2024 led to the identification of 25 more users, for a total of at least 50 accounts on TikTok operating as a network of coordinated users or a digital troop designed to amplify narratives favorable to the Venezuelan state on this platform; while defaming their opponents.
What patterns do the Homeland’s TikTokers follow?
The 50 accounts identified between October and November 2024, use tactics such as: strategic timing of posts with high activity days, repetition of the same content across multiple profiles, and cross-interaction through comments to induce increased reach and perceived popularity.
By analyzing and compiling data from these accounts, we found at least 10,916 videos between January and November 2024. This equates to an average of 992 videos posted per month and approximately 20 videos per day, per account. Most of these videos have content aligned to the officialism narratives.
Although these accounts present some characteristics similar to those of bots, the high degree of personalization and strategy in their operations, added to the combination of political content with more personal content; stands out as a key element in their operation, which allows us to conclude that these are coordinated troops operated by real users with the intention of influencing the conversation in this network.
The videos published have a clear line: they are in favor of Nicolás Maduro and against opposition leaders such as María Corina Machado and Edmundo González.
The most repeated behavior patterns were: publication of the same content, coordinated interactions with each other and repetition of messages accompanying publications or captions.
Posting of the same content
We identified the constant repetition of the same videos in several accounts, with slight modifications in visual elements such as icons or text. Among the most replicated, 7 videos were shared by 19 accounts, and at least 5 of these accounts replicated 4 of these videos. These are the 3 with the highest repetition:
Video 1, Maduro talks about Brazil’s veto to Venezuela in BRICS Summit: the same excerpt of Nicolás Maduro’s statements on October 28 about Brazil’s veto to Venezuela in the BRICS Summit, held in Russia, was published by 14 different accounts between October 29 and 30. Among the 14 accounts it accumulated around 511 reproductions, 95 “likes”, 33 comments and was shared at least 11 times.
The account “joseescal2023” stands out, whose identity is not verifiable and has published 210 videos on TikTok, all in favor of the government and against the Venezuelan opposition; his publication on Maduro’s statements and Brazil’s veto was the one that obtained the highest number of reproductions (98) and “likes” (28) among the 14 accounts that replicated the video.
Video 2, gas pipeline fire in Monagas: contains an excerpt of Maduro’s statements on November 18, where he describes as a “terrorist attack” the fire of a gas pipeline in Monagas, attributed by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez to María Corina Machado and Erik Prince. This video was replicated in at least 13 accounts, with slight edits of icons or sounds, between November 19 and 20. In total, the publications totaled (as of November 30) approximately 905 reproductions, 121 “likes”, 34 comments and 7 shares.
The publication of this video in the account “jenniferavp” obtained the highest number of reproductions (424) and “likes” (40); as well as “joseescal2023” (who also replicated this video), this is an anonymous account that has 183 videos published, supporting the Venezuelan government or against María Corina Machado and Edmundo González.
Video 3, Spaniards detained in Venezuela: as in the previous cases, this is a video of Nicolás Maduro talking about the detention of two Spanish citizens in the state of Amazonas, accused by the Venezuelan State of being intelligence agents planning an attack against him. Maduro also criticized “the right-wing media” in Spain for denying these accusations, pointing out that the detainees were presented as simple tourists. The video was posted on 12 accounts between September 17 and 18, reaching 3,292 reproductions, 289 “likes”, 40 comments and 24 shares.
The account “jessika00108” obtained the highest number of reproductions (1,271), “likes” (78) and comments (8) in the replication of this content. As in the previous ones, it is again an anonymous account with at least 119 publications favorable to Nicolás Maduro or attacking opposition leaders. In addition, both “joseescal2023” and “jenniferavp” also posted this video.
Coordinated interaction with each other
9 of the 50 accounts we identified support each other by commenting on their posts, reinforcing the perception of authenticity and seeking to amplify the reach and popularity of the content; since one of the things considered by the TikTok algorithm to recommend videos in the “For You” section is based on the initial interaction rate; that is, if your video receives many likes, comments or views quickly, the algorithm considers it valuable and therefore, it will show it to more people.
These accounts are:
- abelrock_8
- jessika00108
- alexisjosjimnez
- franklincanonico8
- yunaimacha12
- erpipemacaco
- soymarianita09
- rocio.briceo4
- theintellectualx
Although the average number of interactions per post was 7,026, the median was significantly lower: 157; this indicates that the massive volume of posts seems to be the key to seeking eventual virality and distributing the message at all costs, since most videos do not achieve high levels of individual interaction.
Message repetition
Another pattern we identified in these accounts is related to the repetition of almost identical messages accompanying the videos, also known as “captions”: either the same tags repeated, exact words and phrases.
Of the 50 accounts, at least 29 share this characteristic, similar to the behavior seen on Twitter when the “hashtag of the day” promoted by the Ministry of Communication (MIPPCI) used to be replicated; where coordination among these users is evidenced by using the same basis for the messages, some with slight changes to try to appear authentic in the amplification of these narratives.
Of these 29 accounts, there are 5 that stand out above the rest:
- abelrock_8: has at least 22 messages accompanying posts that are repeated on 16 other different accounts.
- alexisjosjimnez: has 8 messages that are replicated in 16 different accounts.
- erpipemacaco: 11 messages replicated on 15 different accounts.
- migordis38: 12 messages replicated on 15 different accounts.
- naty22597: 4 repeated messages on 15 different accounts.
The first three accounts also stand out for complying with all the patterns we identified, to the point that when entering their profiles we can see the same recently published videos, all linked to the Venezuelan State.
In the analyzed videos of the 50 accounts we found, the word “Maduro” is repeated in 4,460 messages belonging to 2,009 publications, being the most repeated of all. The phrase “gallo pinto” was found in at least 147 messages, “Maduro presidente” in 125 and “vamos Nico” in 107. The word “Edmundo” with videos mocking or attacking Edmundo González appears in at least 178 publications.
In addition, four tags stood out as the most used: #Venezuela with 2,775 mentions, #Maduro with 1,496 mentions, #YoSigoAMaduro with 1,364 mentions and #MaduroPresidente with 584.
Another relevant data is the use of tags that are usually mentioned to favor the TikTok algorithm and amplify the reach of publications, such as #Viral with 628 mentions, #ParaTi with 446 and #fyp (“for you page”, TikTok’s “for you” section) with 165.
What do these findings tell us?
Our analysis reveals that TikTok has become a strategic space for the amplification of narratives favorable to Nicolás Maduro and the ruling party in Venezuela. The implementation of coordinated tactics, such as synchronization of publications, repetition of content and cross-interaction between accounts demonstrates a significant evolution in digital strategies by moving to a much more complex format such as audiovisual content, than the one they used to manage in a coordinated way on Twitter based on text and some images. These practices not only seek to reinforce the presence of the State in the digital sphere, but also to manipulate public perception through the viralization of apparently authentic content.
The use of TikTok as one of the new platforms for the ruling party’s digital troops is evidence of an adaptation to the new dynamics of consumption and viralization of content on social networks. Through accounts operated by real users, but organized under suspicious patterns, they have managed to amplify messages that favor the State, while seeking to weaken the opposition’s discourse.
This case underscores the importance of investigating and making these practices visible in order to foster a more transparent and authentic digital environment.
