Maduro Calls Venezuelans to Delete WhatsApp in Growing Crackdown

  • The messaging app is being used by “fascists,” Maduro says
  • The request comes as security forces arrest 2,000 people
Nicolas Maduro speaks to supporters during a rally in Caracas on Aug. 3.Source: Bloomberg
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President Nicolás Maduro asked his supporters to remove WhatsApp, the Meta-owned messaging app, from their phones, as he said it’s being used by “fascists” to spread violence.

Speaking under the rain at a rally called by the ruling party’s youth branch, Maduro called for a “voluntary, progressive and radical withdraw” from WhatsApp. He said he was instead switching to Telegram and the Chinese messaging app WeChat.