Is it possible to censor social networks countrywide? While China have been moderately successful, there have always been ways of getting around the firewalls or finding a proxy server. Additionally this has come at a great cost to China financially.
This question of censorship is currently being grappled with by Chavez, president of Venezuela. The country currently has access to social network sites and actively uses them. In fact, the country has one of the highest number of Twitter subscribers in the world. Even if Chavez is successful in getting censorship imposed, the people have already experienced a shift in cultural and psychological values; as a result of the exposure to social media technology. This means that it will be more difficult to prevent people from using something that has become ingrained in everyday life.
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The bill proposed could potentially grant Chavez with the chance to silence oppositional messages and tweets. During his 12 years in power, Chavez has been granted temporary decree powers three times by lawmakers. More information on Chavez’s presidency can be found here