As Venezuelans searched desperately for relatives following the twin powerful earthquakes that struck the country, many also faced another obstacle: the inability to freely access some of the country's most important digital platforms and independent news outlets.
Within hours of the disaster, thousands of people flooded social media with photographs, names, and last-known locations of missing family members, hoping someone could provide information. But for many inside Venezuela, accessing those posts has required virtual private networks (VPNs) because the social media platform X remained blocked by the country's main internet provider, which is owned by the government, until early this morning.
