Germán Van de Velde, September 5th 2024
“Whoever reads bourgeois media goes blind and dumb!"
John Heartfield
Several decades ago, Western propaganda sold us the idea that social media are digital platforms made up of communities of people with common interests, activities, or relationships (such as friendship, kinship, or work). We were also led to believe that social media enable contact between people and serve as a means for communication and information exchange.
People gradually immersed themselves in this parallel world, naively thinking they were expanding their social circles, as the capitalist world tends to project itself as the most popular, the one with the most friends, or the one that receives the most "likes."
But this was only the beginning of the operation. The other side of the coin revealed that social media were created to generate a database that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) used to profile the population based on race, ideology, and religion. Today, they use physical characteristics, sexual orientation, race, ideology, or religion of individuals to carry out their harassment activities.
Soon, we learned that these digital platforms were being used by criminals to steal, kidnap, rape, incite hatred and violence, and even murder people. The U.S. government was already doing its job!
The psychological warfare manual was applied to various individuals during its experimental phase. These experiments were conducted in different parts of the world and are now documented under the title “Manual for a Nonviolent Revolution,” aimed at overthrowing governments that oppose U.S. interests. This manual was created to crucify the civic character or reputation of individuals and countries. It has already been used in countries such as Libya, Ukraine, Belarus, Venezuela (on several occasions), Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, Brazil, Peru, among others.
Over time, the evident struggle of magnates for control of these social media platforms became clear. In February 2004, the “university social network” Facebook was born. It was launched by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, Andrew McCollum, and Chris Hughes during their university years. According to reports, this social network amassed over 3 billion users in its early years. Facebook not only became an internet giant but also the center of major scandals, particularly concerning data protection. Instagram was created in October 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. This “social network” quickly gained popularity, reaching over 100 million active users by April 2012 and over 300 million by December 2014. In February 2014, Mark Zuckerberg bought WhatsApp. TikTok was founded by Zhang Yiming and launched in September 2016; it grew from 66 million daily active users in October 2018 to over 1.2 billion users today. In October 2022, Elon Musk acquired the rights to the social network Twitter.
All these “magnates,” aligned with fascist interests, put their “social networks” at the service of the U.S. government to promote hate speech, censorship, and attempts at coups in countries that defend their sovereignty and self-determination.
The social use of social networks was sidelined as an excuse for their creation. Ultimately, the true nature of these spaces became evident when their influence on electoral processes in various parts of the world was apparent. In Latin America, Bolivia, Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua have been and continue to be victims of cyberattacks and account censorship, targeting not only political leaders but also individuals defending popular interests and the truth.
In the elections of July 28, Venezuela experienced the largest cyberattack in history. According to reports, 25 institutions were affected, and 40 more were under investigation. Around 30 million attacks per minute impacted various state-related service websites, including the National Electoral Council (CNE).
In Nicaragua, during the failed coup attempt in 2018, social networks like Facebook and Twitter were flooded with false news. Messaging services like WhatsApp were used to spread this information. The whole world witnessed how social media was used to incite hatred and violence and even to organize terrorist cells that kidnapped, tortured, raped, and murdered people.
One of the most controversial cases was Elon Musk’s active interference in the Venezuelan electoral process on July 28, where he used his platform X to promote hate speech against President Nicolás Maduro, aiming to continue promoting the failed coup attempt. In response, the Venezuelan government suspended the social network X for ten days until the company provided documentation to the South American authorities. Similarly, in Brazil, the use of the social network X will be discontinued after a Supreme Court judge ordered its suspension for failing to comply with regulations established by South American nations.
“[…] all those who attack the true truths are decrepit, they are murderers of truths, committing […] the genocide of truth, killing truths, denying truths, disappearing truths from our peoples.” (Cra. Rosario Murillo in communication with Nicaraguan families - September 4, 2024)
At this point, it is evident that “social networks” appeared in our lives with neocolonialist aims and are nothing more than psychological warfare tools to control our minds. Some on social media act out of fun, resentment, or envy, but others are true mercenaries, hired to carry out discrediting campaigns against entire populations.
In response to this issue, the most affected countries have already established state policies to organize and counteract this psychological warfare. Now, the new challenge also involves how to use Artificial Intelligence in the service of the People and the Community.
As Compañera Rosario Murillo, Vice President of Nicaragua, stated, the rest is to counteract this “permanent harassment of truth and realities in our Nicaragua…”
“[…] that is what we see, that is what we feel, that is what we denounce because of the installed media terrorism, exercised by magnates who are part of the imperialists of the earth, or by servants and lackeys, those cheap merchants who, for crumbs […] sell the homeland.” (Cra. Rosario Murillo in communication with Nicaraguan families - September 4, 2024)