The Cuban Foreign Minister said on Wednesday that the United States supports the planned November 15th protests against human rights and civil rights in the communist country, and the US-based social media platform Facebook is said to be helping to promote these protests. Dissidents on the island, organized under a Facebook group called Archipielago, requested permission to hold a rally in September.
The Cuban authorities rejected their request, claiming that the protesters were cooperating with the United States to overthrow the government. Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez reiterated these allegations before the meeting of foreign diplomats in Havana, saying that the United States helped sponsor and organize protests to destabilize the government.
“The American policy… is doomed to fail. This is not feasible. It has not worked for 60 years. It does not work now (…), and it will not work in the future,” he said. Rodriguez specifically mentioned the role of Facebook, saying that the dissidents organized in groups on the platform violated the social media platform’s own policies, “change the logarithm and change the geolocation mechanism to simulate having a known residence.
There are a large number of account holders in Cuba. Outside of our country, mainly in Florida and the United States.” Rodriguez said these practices violated U.S. and international law.
“As has already happened, Facebook can be sued for these practices against Cuba under strict compliance with the law.” Neither the US State Department nor Facebook, which recently changed its company name to Meta, did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment. Cuba’s recent expansion of Internet access has provided people with new ways to share criticism and mobilize online.
News Source: Gadgets360
