The Impact of Internet Restrictions in Venezuela

The ongoing humanitarian, political and economic crisis in Venezuela has resulted in over 3 million people fleeing their homes due to chronic food and medical shortages, hyperinflation and mass unemployment.

With headlines focusing on the battle between Juan Guaidó and Nicolás Maduro, as well as the benefits and risks of foreign intervention, the voice of ordinary Venezuelans has been cast aside.

With a tightly controlled press, independent reports from Venezuela are increasingly difficult to attain. In the past two months, access to the internet has also been restricted at critical times, leaving citizens unable to communicate with the outside world.

With control of the popular state-owned internet provider, CANTV, Maduro has been able to stifle digital freedoms at decisive moments during the crisis.

The actions point decidedly to the authoritarian and tyrannical nature of his government and, while that doesn’t necessarily justify foreign intervention, demonstrates the substantial challenge that faces the country in the coming months.

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On January 12, Wikipedia was blocked throughout the country after supporters of Guaidó listed him as the president on the country’s page. In blocking the website, Venezuela became the second country in the world to entirely block the online encyclopedia platform.

The move reflects Maduro’s resolute approach of shutting down any and all avenues in which opposition voices may be heard.

Since taking over from Hugo Chávez in 2013 there has been consistent throttling of social media platforms during protests and times of unrest. Reflecting this, Venezuela’s Freedom on the Net status has changed from “partly free” in 2013, to “not free” in 2018.

On January 23, Access Now claimed that Twitter, Instagram and YouTube were all also disrupted as Guaidó invoked articles from the constitution in a bid to remove presidential powers from the incumbent.

It has also been reported that Guaidó was forced to cancel a number of radio and TV interviews, as the National Commission of Telecommunications ordered the media not to mention him by name.

The decision to block access to Wikipedia and social media services demonstrates two distinct features of the ongoing crisis. Namely, Maduro’s incessant refusal to listen to the opposition’s demands and the importance of the digital sphere for citizens to voice their views.

The trivial nature of a Wikipedia entry and Maduro’s reaction also points to the perceived instability surrounding his position, even before major international actors publicly supported Guaidó.

That such restrictions took place early during the political crisis makes it unsurprising that they were to increase in frequency as public demonstrations grew.

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A month after the initial restrictions and amid increasingly violent protests, Guaidó was scheduled to conduct a live-streamed speech to bypass the TV and radio blackout.

According to Netblocks, the speech directly coincided with disruptions to YouTube, as well as Microsoft Bing and Google translation services.

The outage prevented citizens from watching the speech and helped further obscure Guaidó’s message. However, many have been able to bypass the restrictions by using Virtual Private Networks (VPN) and proxy servers.

Despite this, the majority of citizens have been effectively left in the dark - reliant upon state-owned media outlets which often entirely omits the existence of protests. As restrictions slow and, at times, completely halt the flow of information between people, democratic debate, freedom of expression and the rule of law are all temporarily suspended.

As the journalist , Francisco Toro, wrote for Caracas Chronicle, “The immediate future is enormously murky, and the uncertainty, understandably, drives everybody a little bit crazy.” Though this sense of uncertainty is not solely caused by restricting access to the internet, it is undeniably exacerbated by it.

Internet shutdowns during times of political crisis are becoming an increasingly standard response to unrest both within Venezuela and abroad. However, the specificity and accuracy of the restrictions in Venezuela contrasts with the total shutdowns seen recently in Zimbabwe.

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The most recent constraints have had “surgical precision” in their timing, according to Alp Toker, Executive Director at civil society group Netblocks.

He told cybersecurity journalist Davey Winder that “technical data shows that Venezuela’s networks are restricted during protests and critical speeches, only to return when the incumbent presidency uses Twitter to call support to its own rallies.”

As well as throttling and shutting down social media platforms, Maduro’s government has also directly targeted the web presence of the opposition.

Since February 12, the National Assembly’s website has been intermittently inaccessible and

the humanitarian aid website, VoluntariosxVenezuela, was also blocked on Saturday 16 February.

The website is affiliated with the opposition and provides technical assistance for those looking to receive and distribute humanitarian aid to citizens. For Maduro and his supporters, humanitarian aid represents the beginning of a US-backed imperialist intervention and he has done everything possible to prevent American aid from reaching the country.

On February 14, researchers uncovered a state-backed phishing attack which had hijacked the humanitarian aid website and automatically diverted traffic to another URL that mimicked the original in an attempt to steal the personal data of those signing up to help.

Jose-Luis Rivas has claimed that this was not the only site to be affected and that the government is also responsible for launching phishing attacks on Gmail, Facebook and Instagram - though further investigation is required to verify this claim.

As the two most recent interventions show, Maduro’s government is not just targeting the official opposition but also its supporters. A state-backed phishing attack on this scale is particularly concerning as it remains unclear what personal information has been gathered and what will be done with it.

Ultimately, as the humanitarian crisis continues to worsen, the need for aid will only increase. Despite the well-founded skepticism regarding international intervention, the humanitarian crisis demands involvement in some form.

As there is nothing to suggest that Maduro is willing to listen to the grievances of the population or provide any concessions to the opposition, the stalemate appears set to continue and, with it, the situation for ordinary Venezuelans will only deteriorate.

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Though an under-reported aspect of the ongoing crisis, continual internet restrictions demonstrates how the Venezuelan government has exacerbated the sense of confusion and instability that has dominated since the beginning of 2019.

It may not be as urgent as the humanitarian catastrophe or as significant as the potential return to Cold War-style proxy wars. However, without considering Maduro’s disregard for digital rights and freedom of expression, we will be unable to truly comprehend the nature of the government that is in power, for now.

Samuel Woodhams is a freelance journalist and researcher at Top10VPN. He writes about the intersection of technology and politics, covering global developments in censorship and digital rights.

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