Venezuela’s Maduro Regime Deploys Covert Propaganda on X Despite Censoring Platform

Venezuela’s Social Media Paradox: Blocked Platform Becomes Government Propaganda Tool

A coordinated propaganda network linked to Venezuela’s Ministry of Communication continues to flood X with pro-Maduro content, despite the platform being officially blocked in the country since late 2024. The contradiction underscores how the Maduro regime leverages digital censorship while simultaneously maintaining a covert presence on the platform.

Most Venezuelans who wish to access X must now use VPN services or connect through specific internet providers that haven’t yet implemented restrictions. Meanwhile, an intricate propaganda operation tied to government officials operates freely on the platform, pushing coordinated hashtag campaigns and disinformation narratives.

At the center of this operation is an anonymous account with a dragon avatar known as “Dracarys,” which investigation has linked directly to Dayra Rivas, Director of Digital Media at Venezuela’s Ministry of Popular Power for Communication and Information (Mippci).

Digital forensic evidence reveals that Dracarys, which presents itself as a “research team,” is the same account previously operating under different usernames, including @RespetoXTodos and @PiensaIA. The account has been involved in numerous digital propaganda campaigns targeting Maduro’s opponents and promoting government narratives.

“In Twitter (X) there’s an important war to fight. Abandoning this space means leaving free and open flanks for attack by our historic enemy,” wrote the Dracarys account in July, calling for pro-government activists to maintain their presence on the platform despite the official ban.

The account has been particularly active in orchestrating propaganda responses to escalating tensions with the United States, including coordinated hashtag campaigns like #VenezuelaSeEscribeConVDeVietnam, which emerged after Donald Trump mockingly shared a video of Venezuelan militia training.

Network analysis shows that Dracarys sits at the center of a sophisticated digital propaganda ecosystem comprising real government-aligned communicators, inauthentic accounts, and automated bots. In one instance, approximately 80 bot accounts simultaneously interacted with a Dracarys post, using identical timing and random codes—a telltale sign of coordinated automation.

Beyond standard propaganda, the account has participated in disinformation campaigns, including sharing AI-generated content to smear political opponents. It also helped amplify government-directed stigmatization campaigns, including one targeting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.

Evidence from Telegram groups reveals direct coordination between Rivas and pro-government digital collectives. In these groups, she has shared Dracarys content with instructions like “Maximum dissemination. Immediately, please,” and provided talking points for followers to use when amplifying specific narratives.

Human rights organizations have criticized this paradoxical arrangement, where the government blocks citizens’ access to information while maintaining its own propaganda presence. Valentina Ballesta from Amnesty International called the blocking “arbitrary” and said that government-linked accounts continuing to use X “makes the lack of legitimacy of this measure even more evident.”

Andrés Azpúrua, director of digital rights observatory VE Sin Filtro, noted that this arrangement creates profound informational inequality. “Government structures have ended up using some of the same tools to circumvent their own blocking measures and participate in these campaigns,” he explained.

The situation demonstrates how censorship and propaganda can work in tandem rather than conflict with each other. By restricting general access while maintaining specialized propaganda teams, the government can control both information flow and narrative, limiting citizens’ ability to engage in open dialogue while still projecting influence on global platforms.