Nicolás Maduro does not give respite to digital platforms. In this Monday, August 12th, the controversial president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela attacked a new social network: TikTok.
First, it was WhatsApp, then X, he also talked about Instagram, and now it was the turn of the Chinese video platform. Specifically, the head of state pointed to TikTok for promoting a "civil war" in the country.
“Look at how immoral TikTok is, I accuse the executives and owners of TikTok worldwide of wanting civil war in Venezuela, of supporting fascism in Latin America and in the world,” Maduro stated during a meeting with heads of state institutions.
The Bolivarian President criticized the Asian platform for suspending the possibility of live broadcasts after showing an exhibition by the Attorney General Tarek William Saab about the violence during the electoral protests, which have already resulted in 25 deaths, 192 injuries, and over 2,000 arrests according to state sources.
On the other hand, Maduro emphasized that the social network broadcasted live "assaults on hospitals, health centers, schools, public squares, city halls", holding the opposition responsible for those events. "The acts of violence come from you, all those videos are from TikTok," he added.
The Venezuelan leader had already spoken out against the platform owned by Chinese businessman Zhang Yiming, stating that, along with Instagram, they were "hate multipliers" in the country. It is also worth mentioning that a few days ago he decided to ban the use of X (formerly Twitter) for 10 days in the territory and called for a voluntary migration from the messaging platform WhatsApp to other similar platforms such as Telegram or WeChat.
This new and controversial accusation by Nicolás Maduro comes in a context of uncertainty among the citizens and amid strong words from opposition leader María Corina Machado, who declares Edmundo González as the new elected president and assures that he will assume power in January 2025.