One month has passed since the blockade of X announced by Nicolás Maduro

“There is nothing in our legislation that prevents companies from opening VPNs and training their staff to continue using X. There is nothing public that prevents this,” said Luis Serrano, coordinator of the NGO Redes Ayuda, about companies that use This social network, which was temporarily suspended, as a channel of attention to its users.

The measure, which according to Nicolás Maduro would be for 10 days, This Sunday, September 8, marks one month since it was announced on national television. According to reports, the deadline was given for the US company to present its documents and “establish” the definitive administrative measure.

To date, the president has not made any reference to the issue. He has also not confirmed whether the decision to block X in the country will be final.

In this regard, the spokesperson for Redes Ayuda urged companies to invest in other ways to serve customers. Or train your staff to use these private networks that allow them to browse the Internet privately.

The activist stressed that companies must diversify the ways they communicate with their audiences. That is, implement measures that prevent them from depending on a single platform.

“At the moment it is blocked, but at another time it may be suspended, or down for any reason that does not necessarily depend on the State. The idea is that they are in as many as possible to guarantee a better service to their users,” he said.

As a way to evade government order, VPNs have become a form of access for Venezuelans, who are forced to use them to access restricted websites and media outlets in the country.

VPN, which stands for Virtual Private Network, is a tool that allows you to maintain a secure connection to the Internet remotely, as if you were physically on another network.

Permanent measure?

“After more than 10 days, it seems that the blockade is going to be permanent. What we are going to see is that this will continue as long as those in power are interested in maintaining it,” the Redes Ayuda spokesperson assumed.

Serrano said it could also be an “experiment” to see how far the restriction can be extended to other social networks.

In his opinion, the ban on the use of X violates access to information. In addition, it affects those people whose work depends on promotion through networks. Among them he named entrepreneurs, community managers or those who develop articles that they publish through this means.

“We could expect attempts to block other networks. Blocking social networks like TikTok or Instagram would have greater economic repercussions. Hopefully this won’t happen and we won’t see this in the coming days,” he said.

Information blackout

Serrano specified that “the most formal” thing that has happened in terms of restrictions against portals or news media has been the declaration on television to suspend X.

“The rest of the digital media and platforms have been blocked without prior notice from the national leader, and without any type of communication with these media or companies that generate information,” he said.

Among the examples he mentioned Crónica Uno, blocked since February 2, 2022.

The latest blockages were against TalCual, El Estímulo, RunRunes and Venezuela Sin Filtro. The measure was applied in July of this year.