An Autocrat's Playbook: Nicolás Maduro's Use of Social Media to Erode Venezuelan Democracy

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s autocratic techniques have pushed Venezuela closer to authoritarianism and farther from democracy. These techniques involve newer tactics that build on his predecessor’s success in suppressing democracy and work quietly and efficiently to disrupt elections. Dodging accountability for his hand in Venezuela’s democratic backsliding, Maduro avoids explicit breaches of international codes and laws, choosing instead to operate within the grey areas of misinformation and information manipulation around which legal consensus is still being formed. The Venezuelan 2020 parliamentary elections provide a clear and compelling image of Maduro’s use of misinformation on social media platforms to threaten election integrity and erode democracy. While Maduro still relies on traditional routes to suppress dissent and maintain authority, the development of discrete, targeted demonstrations of autocratic power on social media platforms must be taken seriously for the threat they pose to global democracy.