'I've been living in fear:' Venezuela uses social media to crush dissent over disputed election

Wilmer knew the situation was serious when he started to fear his own cousin.

The 24-year-old university student had been discussing the aftermath of Venezuela's presidential election in a family WhatsApp group, when his relative a police officer and government supporter sharply rebuked him for saying the result was a sham.

Days after initial anti-government protests following President Nicols Maduro's re-election at the end of last month, people were still being arrested for taking part in the demonstrations, or for content they were publishing in messaging apps or online.

Wilmer and some other family members didn't want to risk being next. They stopped responding in the group and set up a smaller and safer one instead.

"I've been living in fear," said Wilmer, who has attended protests and previously criticized the government openly on social media. CBC News is only using the first name of Wilmer and other members of the public interviewed for this article due to the threat of government reprisals that have escalated since the election.

"I'm terrified that they'll check my phone and I'll go to prison. The few dreams I have will be destroyed."

Venezuela's electoral body, which is closely aligned to the government, declared Maduro the winner following the country's July 28 election. This was despite pre-election opinion polls, as well as exit polls, signalling he was set for a dramatic loss after years of an economic and humanitarian crisis, corruption and a quarter of the population having left the country.

The government has so far failed to publish a vote count to back up its alleged victory claims, while the opposition has presented vote tallies appearing to show their candidate, retired diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, won by a landslide with 67 per cent of the vote, compared to Maduro's 30 per cent.

The opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was banned from running as the bloc's candidate in the election, has called for national and global protests this Saturday in support of their victory.

But those calling fraud on Maduro's 'win' feel vulnerable. His regime has attempted to quell dissent with thousands of arrests. It's attempting to stifle citizens' use of technology and social media, while using those tools to implement intimidation campaigns designed to stop people from speaking out.

'I leave my real phone at home'

Many people say the government's strategies are working.

"I'm barely using social media now because I'm nervous about the consequences," opposition supporter Dorkis told CBC News. "I leave my real phone at home if I go out, and take an old, 'clean' one that has basically nothing on it."

The 56-year-old, who lives in Caracas, has been heeding the advice of human and digital rights organizations to delete photos and social media statuses, hide sensitive apps and carry alternative devices amid police spot checks in the street and the monitoring of online content by intelligence services.

"These are the kinds of preparations human rights organizations take when people are crossing borders, which we now have to recommend for ordinary people just leaving their house," said Andres Azpurua, director of Ve Sin Filtro, an organization that documents censorship and human rights abuses involving technology and the internet in Venezuela.

Activists and journalists are particularly at threat and are among those sent to the country's detention facilities. A number of news websites have been posting articles without reporter names, and some are now using AI avatars rather than real people for their online video content to protect the safety of their journalists.

Around 2,400 people have been detained since the election, according to government figures. The United Nations has condemned the "fierce repression directed by the state" connected to protests or opinions on social media, as have other international organizations and governments.

But it's not only individuals the Maduro regime is cracking down on it's social media platforms themselves too.

WATCH | Was Venezuela's election 'stolen?'

Venezuelas stolen election: Can Maduro be forced out? | About That

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The re-election of Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro has sparked violent protests across the country as the opposition and much of the world questions the legitimacy of the outcome. Andrew Chang explains why the result is in dispute, and what it could mean for a country in a years-long crisis.

Crackdown on TikTok, X

Maduro, who has been in power since 2013 following the death of his predecessor Hugo Chavez, recently branded TikTok as "fascist" after he automatically received a temporary suspension of his account, which has 2.8 million followers, for what the app described as "promoting violence."

He also publicly deleted the messaging service WhatsApp on state TV, and encouraged citizens to do the same, accusing it of being used to "threaten Venezuela."

But for Azpurua from Ve Sin Filtro, Maduro temporarily blocking X, formerly Twitter, for 10 days in Venezuela is the most significant move.

"The main goal of this X ban is to prevent people reaching news fast in a moment where people want the most," he told CBC News, explaining X is how Venezuelans keep up-to-date about protests and post-election developments.

Venezuela's media landscape has long-been dominated by state-run outlets and news sites and many citizens heavily rely on social media for unfiltered information.

It's not the first time social media platforms have been blocked. In 2019, social media sites were regularly restricted as a way to limit access to information at critical moments, such as during opposition speeches. But these bans were just for a few minutes at a time not days.

"Right now, internet censorship is in its darkest days in Venezuela," Azpurua said. "It is affecting not only freedom of expression, freedom of opinion, but also freedom of information in a tremendously significant way."

Government app to report protesters

While digitally isolating the population to suppress information access is one strategy favored by the government, using social media and tech to intimidate users is another.

One video posted to the official Instagram account of one of the state intelligence services aims to make an example of lawyer and opposition coordinator Maria Oropeza, who had been vocal online with her criticism of arbitrary detentions. She livestreamed her own arrest at home by hooded and masked security forces.

The government video, which later went viral on X, showed Oropeza's arrest and arrival in handcuffs at a presumed detention facility, set to a nursery rhyme from the horror movie Nightmare on Elm Street. It ended with the words "Operation Knock Knockcontinues" a reference to the government's campaign of rounding up people from their homes and putting them in prison for alleged hate crimes and terrorism.

The same account also features a video of a Chucky doll from another horror film, telling citizens that they should behave. The caption reads "Knock, Knock."

Torture and degrading treatment have allegedly been used for years by security services as tools of repression for political prisoners in Venezuela.

"It's terrifying seeing these videos," said Antonio, a 70-year-old retiree, who's also a member of one of the parties making up the main opposition bloc. The Caracas resident knows another opposition member who was recently arrested and is now limiting what he puts online.

"I'm reluctant 100 per cent reluctant to share content now," Antonio told CBC News. "As soon as I get any social media that I find that it could be compromising, I just delete it."

The government had also been encouraging members of the public to denounce people via its VenApp, a government phone application that is usually used to report problems with public services. It introduced a new category to report those who had been protesting. The app has since been removed by Apple and Google from their stores.

For Wilmer, he regrets that he's had to limit contact with his cousin and other government supporters in his family for fear they might report him. The regime, he said, has succeeded in sowing mistrust and fear even among relatives.

But he and others say they're not giving up on making sure the man they voted for, Edmundo Gonzalez, takes office in January 2025.

"I'm scared but I'll continue going to protests," Wilmer told CBC News. "It's an important way to vent the helplessness and anger I feel over this stolen election."