Cuba clamps down on social media and internet access as protests spread
According to a news report, internet access and especially social media applications have been restricted by Cuban authorities in the wake of protests and dissent against Cuba’s communist dictatorship. Internet users in Cuba, according to the report, witnessed outages on Sunday 11 July, 2021 and Monday 12 July, 2021 as thousands of Cubans took to the streets to protest against what they considered as poor management of the COVID-19 pandemic and a worrying food shortage situation in the country. The internet monitoring NGO, Netblocks, also reported the incident and confirmed with real-time data showing targeted internet restrictions against various social media platforms including Telegram, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook by the state-owned telecommunications provider, ETECSA. Netblocks also confirmed that many people in Cuba were using VPN technology to circumvent the restrictions.
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