Hey, remember when the US government tried to give Cuba its own tweeter (because Freeze Peach!), even though Cuba was already communicating freely with the world ON Twitter? This is sort of like that. Only, um, it’s even dumber.
I thought this freaky totalitarian shit was supposed to go the other way around, but we are truly through the Looking Glass here:
Twitter has suspended several accounts run by the Cuban government including those of state-run media and of officials including the daughter of Communist party leader Raul Castro.
The social media giant cited violations of its policies.
The move came just as President Miguel Díaz-Canel made a televised statement about potential fuel shortages.
Cuba’s pro-government journalists’ union denounced the suspensions as “massive censorship”.
“What is new here is the massive scope of this act of cybernetic warfare, clearly planned, that aims to limit the freedom of expression of Cuban institutions and citizens and to silence the leaders of the revolution,” the union said in a statement.
The suspensions began a little before the announcement on state TV on Wednesday by President Diaz-Canel and continued the following morning.
They include the account of the TV programme, Mesa Redonda, on which Mr Díaz-Canel appeared; the state-run newspaper Granma Digital; the state radio station Radio Rebelde, and the account of Raul Castro’s daughter and head of the Cuban gay rights commission, Mariela Castro.
Even more ironic, here’s the reason for this censorship of an entire country’s official government accounts:
A Twitter spokesman did not give specific examples of where its rules had been broken.
But he said the company’s platform manipulation policies prohibit users artificially amplifying or disrupting conversations by using multiple accounts.
Um, why are they not doing the same in the US of Amnesia, if that’s the case? Because there are plenty of multiple-account users there, and some of them are blatantly tweeting and retweeting fascist propaganda, STILL. Including none other than the cheese-dyed squatter in the White House himself. Why is it fair in one court and foul in another?
Well, this may or may not be a clue:
In his televised address, Mr Díaz-Canel warned of problems with fuel supplies in the coming weeks.
He said the distribution of fuel, especially of diesel, was being badly hit by US sanctions against Venezuela – Cuba’s main oil supplier.
He said it was likely there would be blackouts next week, suggesting that people should work from home.
US-induced economic destabilization in Venezuela — AND Cuba? Yup.
And they would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn’t been for those pesky Cuban government kids on the tweeter.