Venezuelan independent news sites are blocked by state-controlled and private service providers

Several independent news websites in Venezuela have recently been blocked, a troubling sign of escalating press censorship.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, reporters and experts say that private internet service providers (ISPs) are censoring the sites for the first time, even though the sites have been unavailable on state-run networks for years.

As of Tuesday, February 1, private internet service providers Movistar, Digitel, Inter, NetUno, and Supercable blocked access to news sites Perfecto Cocuyo and Crónica Uno, as well as EVTV Miami, a streaming station that reports on Venezuela, according to Venezuela Sin Filter, a project that monitors internet censorship.

The government-owned ISP CANTV has blocked various news sites critical of Venezuela's authoritarian government for more than a decade, but they have remained accessible on the 25% of residential internet connections supplied by private companies until recently, Andrés Azpurua, coordinator of Venezuela Sin Filter, told CPJ via messaging app.

An independent news website was blocked by 35 private ISPs during the November regional election. There is no clear indication of how many are blocked to the general public, as some private ISPs allow access and others do not.

Luis Carlos Díaz, president of the Venezuelan chapter of Internet Society, who advocates internet openness, told CPJ by messaging app that private ISPs are under government orders to block these websites for fear of losing their business.

Nicolás Maduro's government has spent years clamping down on news websites to "limit access to objective news," the Venezuelan press freedom association claimed in a Twitter thread on Wednesday.

The number of independent news websites has grown more important in Venezuela as the government attempts to reduce the influence of independent newspapers, TV channels, and radio stations through fines, defamation lawsuits, advertising boycotts, and other measures.

Throughout the past years, CPJ has documented the blocking of free and independent news websites in Venezuela.

*This article contains information sourced from CPJ.