Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez, who is criticized by media freedom groups, called yesterday for regulation of the Internet and singled out a website that he said falsely reported the murder of one of his ministers. “The Internet cannot be something open where anything is said and done. Every country has to apply its own rules and norms,” Mr Chávez said. He cited German Chancellor Angel Merkel as having expressed a similar sentiment recently.
Mr Chávez is angry with Venezuelan political opinion and gossip website Noticierodigital, which he said had falsely written that Diosdado Cabello, a senior minister and close aide, had been assassinated. The president said the story remained on the site for two days. “We have to act. We are going to ask the attorney general for help, because this is a crime. I have information that this page periodically publishes stories calling for a coup d’état. That cannot be permitted.”
Social networking web sites like Twitter and Facebook are very popular among Venezuela’s opposition movements to organize protests against the government. President Chávez has complained that people use such sites to spread unfounded rumours. Many opponents fear Mr Chávez plans to emulate the government oversight of the Web used by allies Cuba, China and Iran, but the socialist leader has not given any sign that he is planning such a move.
(Source: Reuters)
on Mar 14th, 2010 at 23:36
Has Frau Merkel expressed a similar sentiment recently ? I know she is concerned about copyright infringement but Germany censoring the internet would be a massive big subject, surely.