Hugo Chávez Calls Twitter a Tool of Terrorism

Socialist crank Hugo Chávez doesn't much care for communication he can't control, so it was only a matter of time before he put the kibosh on Twitter in Venezuela.Last week, the tag #FreeVenezuela became a trending topic thanks to citizens protesting Chávez's crackdown on press freedom and calling for the president's...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

February 9, 2010

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Socialist crank Hugo Chávez doesn't much care for communication he can't control, so it was only a matter of time before he put the kibosh on Twitter in Venezuela.

Last week, the tag #FreeVenezuela became a trending topic thanks to citizens protesting Chávez's crackdown on press freedom and calling for the president's resignation.

Late last month, Chávez ordered the shutdown of five cable TV stations after they refused to air his addresses. Riots over freedom of the press broke out, leaving at least two young demonstrators dead. The Twitter tag became a cyber component of the protests and at one point reached the third spot on Twitter's trending topics list. Demonstrators also planned some protests through Twitter.

Now the Chávez government have declared Twitter a "tool of terror" and might place restrictions on the site and the Internet in general.

We wonder if any of those Tweets came through the "$15 penis phone" he unveiled last year.

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