62% of content on social networks contains “violence”

The Minister of Science and Technology of Venezuela, Gabriela Jiménez, said this Saturday that “more than 62% of the content” on social networks contains “messages about violence”according to “surveys” carried out in the country, although it did not specify which surveys these were.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Jiménez stated – during an interview on the program ‘Librería Mediatica’, broadcast on the state channel VTV– that this type of content “generates subjectivity in the individual” and “affects mental health.”

Likewise, he stated that young people’s mental health “is a priority” and “it is everyone’s responsibility to work together to create a healthier and more balanced digital environment”.

“Media diversity must play an active role in promoting ethical and moral values, counteracting the violence and banality that often permeate social networks,” said Jiménez, according to the press release.

On August 8, a group of Venezuelan deputies reported that they were preparing a law to regulate social networks, after President Nicolás Maduro called the American WhatsApp and Instagram and the Chinese TikTok as instruments «multipliers of hate and fascism» in the country.

The objective, said Chavista representative Imarú González, is to “review or create a norm” that regulates the use of social networks, given its “increasing negative impact” on “children and adolescents” and “the violence unleashed in these digital platforms.