January 15, 2025 VE confirmed
Venezuela bans TikTok for failing to appoint a local representative
Venezuela banned TikTok after the platform failed to appoint a local representative in the country. This is a regulatory pressure mechanism distinct from context-based blocking: it conditions the platform's operation on the existence of a local legal figure, which facilitates governmental control over content. It is a pattern repeated in other countries in the region and worldwide, where the local-representative requirement functions as a compliance lever.
January 10, 2025 VE confirmed
Venezuela blocks TikTok, Telegram and 21 VPN services during Maduro's inauguration
In January 2025, during the inauguration of the current Maduro administration, Venezuelan authorities began blocking access to digital platforms including TikTok and Telegram, and to the websites of at least 21 VPN and circumvention services. The blocking of VPN tools is especially significant because it targets the mechanisms the population uses to bypass earlier blocks. Access Now denounced these shutdowns as part of a recurring government pattern to suppress opposition voices and limit information flow.
July 29, 2024 VE confirmed
Venezuela blocks Signal, X, Microsoft Teams and Reddit after presidential election
Following the 28 July 2024 presidential election and the mass protests after the National Electoral Council's unsubstantiated announcement that Nicolás Maduro had won, the Venezuelan government deployed a battery of internet controls. It blocked access to Signal, X, Microsoft Teams, and Reddit in response to post-election protests. Freedom House recorded the second-largest decline in its Freedom on the Net 2025 index due to these events. Venezuela also ordered a ten-day block of X over the disputed electoral result.
June 1, 2025 SV reported
El Salvador: Telegram access problems during Bukele's inauguration
Digital rights organizations including Access Now, APES, ARTICLE 19, and the Central American Network of Journalists reported Telegram access problems from 1 to 3 June 2025, coinciding with President Nayib Bukele's inauguration. The organizations called on El Salvador's government to investigate the block. As in September 2024, the block coincided with a leak of alleged government data via Telegram.
September 15, 2024 SV confirmed
El Salvador: five providers block Telegram on Independence Day
The Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) recorded that at least five internet providers in El Salvador blocked access to Telegram on 15 September 2024, Independence Day, when the president delivers an awaited speech to the nation. OONI's technical measurement confirms the block independently. The block coincided with a leak of alleged government data via Telegram.
March 15, 2025 CU confirmed
Cuba bans and seizes unregistered satellite internet devices
The Cuban government banned the entry of unregistered satellite internet devices into the country, seizing many in March 2025. Satellite internet providers, being relatively new to the market, have not yet widely implemented the censorship and surveillance mechanisms many governments require — particularly countries ranked 'Not Free' in the Freedom on the Net index. This is why some authorities have sought to ban them: they represent a connectivity path outside state control.
March 17, 2024 CU confirmed
Cuba: five-hour internet traffic dip following protests
On 17 March 2024, Cuba experienced a five-hour internet traffic dip following protests against food shortages and power outages. Governmental control over internet connections in Cuba makes blocks and interventions more direct and easier to implement than in other countries in the region, where infrastructure is more distributed. The 2021 precedent, with internet and electricity cuts during mass protests, ended with over 5,000 people arrested, including 120 journalists and activists.
