Digital censorship in Venezuela: digital authoritarianism and state surveillance in times of COVID-19

Abstract

This paper will address the digital censorship in the country expressed through its forms of digital authoritarianism and state control, aspects that have been radicalized with the pandemic, since the official information on any element related to COVID-19 does not admit the possibility of contrasting or debating before the public opinion. The so-called collective quarantine, not only implies a measure to contain the pandemic, but it has also been a propitious moment to demobilize the citizenry, confining them to the private sphere. The reports that are usually made to inform about the pandemic in the country, generate deep skepticism, suspicions about the number of people affected, the number of tests performed and the number of deaths. Such has been the informative opacity that has characterized the communicational policy of Maduro's government (also Chávez's at the time), that it is complex to know how the pandemic is really affecting the country, not only in terms of health, but also in the social and economic spheres. The Venezuelan State, through its authoritarian practices, has focused its actions on the imposition of legal regulations that are applied discretionally, which has resulted in harassment, blocking of web portals, arbitrary arrests, among other government actions that have directly attacked the free right to communicate and express opinions through the various media and digital social networks. To analyze the practices of governmental digital control and authoritarianism in digital social networks. Determine the new censorship modalities that are imposed in the context of the pandemic. To explore the digital security initiatives of NGOs to combat censorship.