Chavez: Twitter and websites may soon be blocked in Venezuela

Reuters is reporting that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez may soon monitor, block and criminally charge website authors who disagree with the government. The Reuters story says Chavez claimed that a Venezuelan website, http://www.noticierodigital.com/ wrote a false story that a senior official in the Chavez government had been assassinated. The story was retracted 2 days later. Chavez however, claims that it took too long in doing so and may have violated Venezuelan law.

Reuters quotes President Chavez;

"We have to act. We are going to ask the attorney general for help, because this is a crime. I have information that this page periodically publishes stories calling for a coup d'etat. That cannot be permitted."

The report by Reuters states social media web portals such as Twitter and Facebook are valuable tools in protesting the recent government crackdown on those that oppose Chavez's policies.

Additional resources:

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