Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has signed a decree blocking access to social media platform X, formerly Twitter, for 10 days following a public spat with its owner Elon Musk.
The two men have been at loggerheads since Mr Maduro was declared the winner of a disputed presidential election last month.
Mr Musk has described the Venezuelan leader as a “dictator” and a “clown”, while Mr Maduro has accused Mr Musk of inciting “hatred, fascism, [and] civil war”.
Recent weeks have seen anti-government protests erupt over the election results and Hundreds of people have been arrested by Venezuelan security forces.
The vote held on 28 July was described by independent observers as “undemocratic” and the main opposition said it had evidence that its candidate, Edmundo González, had won by an overwhelming margin.
Mr Maduro claimed that the country’s electoral body, the National Electoral Council (CNE), was the target of a “cyber coup” during the election and accused Mr Musk of orchestrating an “attack” on his re-election bid.
The Carter Center, which observed the election at the invitation of the Venezuelan government, said it had seen “no evidence” of any cyberattack.
In a speech broadcast on state television on Thursday evening, Mr Maduro said the X would be “withdrawn from circulation” by the state agency in charge of telecommunications.
“Elon Musk is the owner of X and has violated every rule,” he said.
“He violated the rules by inciting hatred, fascism, civil war, death, conflict with the Venezuelan people and violated all the laws of Venezuela.”
In posts on X ahead of the presidential election, Mr Musk voiced support for the main opposition, saying: “It’s time for the people of Venezuela to have a chance at a better future.”
After the results came in, he alleged that there had been “massive electoral fraud perpetrated by Maduro” and wrote: “Shame on dictator Maduro.”
He also compared Mr Maduro’s intelligence to that of a donkey and said that “the Venezuelan people are fed up with this clown”.
The CNE has declared Mr Maduro the winner of the election but has yet to release official vote counts.
The opposition’s call for the data to be released has been echoed by the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.
The governments of the United States, Argentina, Uruguay and Ecuador all recognized Mr. González as the winner of the vote.
In its assessment, the Carter Center said the election “failed to meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic.”
Venezuela’s Supreme Court has summoned representatives of all parties and candidates to submit their ballots by Friday.
Mr Maduro said he would attend the trial on Friday, but Mr González said attending the hearing would leave him “totally vulnerable due to his incapacity and violation of due process”.
“I [would] not only endangers my freedom but more importantly the will of the Venezuelan people,” he said.
