YouTube shuts down Maduro's channel in Venezuela

YouTube has shut down the channel of Venezuela's de facto president, Nicolás Maduro, which had over 233,000 subscribers.

"Without any explanation, the YouTube channel has been shut down, at a time of full implementation of US hybrid warfare operations against Venezuela," the pro-government broadcaster Telesur wrote on its website.

The episode occurs against the backdrop of tensions between Caracas and Washington over the deployment of US naval forces in the Caribbean to combat drug trafficking.

Last August, Maduro ordered a ten-day suspension of social media platform X, owned by South African tycoon Elon Musk. Since then, X has remained blocked for Venezuelan users. Also in August 2024, the Chavista leader accused the "owners" of social media platform TikTok (owned by a Chinese company) of promoting a civil war in the country and rebuked the platform for suspending live broadcasts. At the time, the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, showed a video of alleged violence unleashed by the opposition during protests following Maduro's disputed re-election in the presidential elections of July 28, 2024.