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Twitter suspends Venezuela govt accounts… and verifies opposition leader Guaido
Twitter has suspended a number of Venezuelan government and media accounts, but has also verified a new account for self-declared ‘interim president’ Juan Guaido.
The Ministry of Popular Power for Women, the Ministry of Popular Power for Education, and the Ministry of Popular Power for Petroleum were all suspended between April 30 and May 1, along with several Venezuelan media accounts including El Correo del Orinoco, the Diario Vea, and the television station ViVe Televisión.
The ministry accounts have since been reinstated, but the media accounts are still suspended.
On Monday, the newly-formed National Communication Center for Guaido set up a Presidencia_VE Twitter account claiming to be the “official account of the presidency of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela” which has since been verified by Twitter. Guaido’s account is also verified.
We need optional platforms rather than #Twitter and #Facebook. That's the only alternative to avoid these corporations to silence the left media.
— Worldz Politix (@WPolitix) May 1, 2019
@verified just another arm of the war machine.
— Vanna (@vannanancy) May 1, 2019
Twitter announced it was suspending its verification process in 2017, after it came under fire for verifying the organizer of the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally. “Our verified account program is currently on hold. We are not accepting any new requests at this time,” it explains in its FAQ page.
The company recently responded to outrage when it was revealed that it had continued to verify accounts, explaining, “our teams around the world continue to work closely with trusted partners to verify select accounts.”
Also on rt.com Twitter quietly gives blue tick to Jack Dorsey’s mom despite account verification ‘pause’
RT.com has contacted Twitter for comment about the latest ‘verified account’ approvals.
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