Venezuela will prepare a social media law after the death of two minors due to viral challenges
The president of the National Assembly (AN) of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, announced this Tuesday that they will prepare a law to regulate social networks after the death of two teenagers and mass poisonings in several schoolsfacts associated with challenges that became popular on these digital platforms.
In a legislative session, Rodriguez He explained that a group of deputies from the Family, Domestic Policy and Education, Science and Technology commissions are preparing a first report that will serve as the basis for this bill, the content of which he did not advance.
“Let legislation be initiated from this NA on social networks and the impact they have on our population and especially on our girls and boys,” Rodríguez remarked, applauded by the majority of legislators.
He assured that “in the next few hours” it will be known how this commission of deputies will be made up, to which he asked to present the first report to the plenary session “in a peremptory manner.”
They warn about lethal viral challenges
Nicolás Maduro on Monday ordered the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) to ask the social network TikTok in Latin America to remove from its platforms in Venezuela videos about viral challenges that he described as “abusive and criminal.”
ON ALERT 🚨📲
Nicolás Maduro set a deadline of 72 hours to obtain a concrete response from TikTok Latin America for the “viral challenges” of said platform.
He warned that, if measures are not taken, he will apply the most severe actions to “protect” children and youth. pic.twitter.com/iCaYHfs5Ox
— ImpactoVenezuela (@ImpactoVE) November 19, 2024
He pointed out that two teenagers, aged 12 and 14, died in the state of Miranda, after following one of these viral challenges on the platform, without explaining the circumstances in which these deaths occurred.
The government has called on parents and representatives to monitor the content that minors access on the Internet, after mass poisonings were recorded in at least five schools, allegedly linked to these experiments.
Last week, the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Cabello, explained that they are investigating cases of “chroming”, a challenge popularized on social networks, especially among teenagers, which consists of inhaling toxic substances from aerosols, deodorants, paints and insecticides.
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