SHRINKING DEMOCRACY, GROWING VIOLENCE 42 minimum wage of 57 cents per hour.220 Cutting people off from channels to organize, express dissent, and access crucial information only makes matters worse. In Venezuela, authorities returned to old patterns of imposing internet shutdowns during critical national events, including elections and protests.221 In October 2023, there were widespread reports of internet disruptions in several areas in Caracas coinciding with primary voting for opposition candidates.222 Although the government claimed the disruptions were due to power outages, the timing aligns with patterns of past disruptions, and the government has since taken repeated steps to undermine the election process. A Supreme Court ruling suspended the primary process and disqualified the winning opposition candidate from running against President Nicolás Maduro.223 The court also ordered the opposition to submit all voter registrations to the electoral commission for investigation, raising serious concerns about future retaliation against opposition supporters and further irregularities in the presidential election scheduled for July 2024.224 220 Brazil, another repeat offender, blocked Telegram for the second year in a row, after what had seemed to be a move away from platform blocking orders following two cases in 2016.225 On April 26, 2023, a federal judge ordered internet service providers to block Telegram across the country in an attempt to force the company to give the police information about participants in suspected hate group chat rooms.226 The block was lifted on April 29 after another federal judge intervened, stating that a complete shutdown “is not reasonable, given the broad impact throughout the national territory on the freedom of communication of thousands of people who are absolutely strangers to the facts under investigation.”227 The judge that initially ordered the block had done the same thing in 2022, ordering the blocking of Telegram for two days for failing to comply with police and judicial orders to remove disinformation in the lead-up to the presidential election.228 Ibid. 221 Access Now (2023). Connectivity problems raise red flags ahead of Venezuelan elections. https://www.accessnow.org/ connectivity-problems-raise-red-flags-ahead-venezuelan-elections/ 222 Supra note 44. 223 The Guardian (2023). Venezuela primary results suspended in latest blow directed at opposition. https://www.theguardian. com/world/2023/oct/30/venezuela-primary-election-results-suspended-machado-maduro 224 Ibid.; supra note 7. 225 See Access Now (2016). Brazil moves to block WhatsApp (again). https://www.accessnow.org/brazil-moves-blockwhatsapp/ 226 AP (2023). Brazil judge orders temporary suspension of Telegram. https://apnews.com/article/brazil-telegram-suspensionsocial-media-school-violence-d72acaacd3c1b4d07c2c4fcb094f4ce6; see also OONI Explorer (2024). Telegram Test: Brazil. https://explorer.ooni.org/chart/mat?test_name=telegram&axis_x=measurement_start_day&since=2023-04-17&until=2023-0502&time_grain=day&probe_cc=BR 227 AP (2023). Telegram app back on in Brazil after judge lifts suspension. https://apnews.com/article/brazil-violence-schoolstechnology-1f48e38bddef741e11a4a05e2e242ffa 228 DW (2022). Brazil blocks messaging app Telegram. https://www.dw.com/en/brazil-telegram-messaging-app-blocked-bytop-court/a-61183805