Fake Account! Social Media Users Denounce Attempted Identity Theft of Telesur

Social media users have denounced the attempted identity theft of the Telesur brand through the use of a fake account on Twitter. Telesur, the legal name of which is La Nueva Televisión del Sur, is a news channel funded by multiple Latin American states. It was founded in 2005, with main studios in Caracas, Venezuela. The current president of the network is the Colombian journalist Patricia Villegas Marín.

As the fake account Telesur Libre appeared on Twitter, hundreds of Twitter users, followers of Telesur, and journalists working independently or with various media outlets flooded the social networking site with tweets and messages rejecting the profile and criticizing the attempted identity theft. The fake account has been denounced as having the intention of causing confusion and disseminating misinformation that is contrary to freedom of speech and the realities of the peoples of Latin America and the Global South in general. Numerous messages were posted by users on Twitter, calling everyone to report the fake account and block it.

Denunciamos y rechazamos la usurpación de la marca @teleSURtv por "TeleSur Libre", cuentas creadas para confundir y difundir información en contra de la libertad de expresión de los pueblos del sur
Comparte y denuncia
— Laila Tajeldine (@LailaTajeldine) May 25, 2021

In contrast with the fake account, the real Telesur account (@teleSURtv) has more than 1 million 900 thousand followers on Twitter. It is a verified account and has been on the platform since June 2002, while on the fake account, the information shows that it joined Twitter in January 2020.

¡ATENCIÓN!
Denunciamos la usurpación de @teleSURtv por una cuenta de la oposición venezolana al servicio de intereses norteamericanos.
Esperamos se tomen las medidas que corresponden.
TeleSur JAMÁS estará al servicio de los genocidas que roban y matan al pueblo. pic.twitter.com/uCtEPSwSS9
— ✽ Orlenys Ortiz 🍁🍃 (@OrlenysOV) May 25, 2021

Regarding Telesur, former National Assembly deputy Juan Guaidó, who self-proclaimed himself as Venezuela’s ”interim president” on January 23, 2019, in a public square in Caracas, also proclaimed himself, earlier this year, as the person in charge of ”rescuing” the television network.

Nicolás Maduro, the legitimate president of Venezuela, had denounced the ultra right-winger’s maneuver against Telesur at the time. The president had decried that ”what Guaidó desires is to have a means of communication with drug traffickers, paramilitaries, thieves and criminal gangs.”

https://twitter.com/ErikaOSanoja/status/1396975675924520961

Mercenaries and terrorists
The political campaign and the acts of rampant corruption surrounding the so-called Telesur Libre fake account are part of the resumé of those who are in charge of this supposed media project.

This time it was Roberto Marrero who, before fleeing Venezuelan justice, worked as an assistant to former opposition deputy Juan Guaidó. On May 24, Marrero identified himself as ”president” of the fake media outlet.

🤔 ¿Telesur libre? No lo sé Rick me parece cuenta usurpadora, que es lo mismo que decir opositora. pic.twitter.com/mw5aviCHLP
— ❀𝑳𝒂𝒖𝒓𝒂 𝑬𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒔❀ (@Eilemspsuv) May 24, 2021

Featured Image: A Telesur Production. Photo: AP

(RedRadioVe) by José Manuel Blanco Díaz

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/GMS/SC