translated from Spanish: Social networks and messaging platforms suffer outages in Cuba

EFE

yesterday
Netblocks measurements found that the “WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, as well as some Telegram servers, are being disrupted in the government’s Etecsa (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba, S.A.), including Cubacel, the mobile network operated by Cuba’s only telecommunications company.”

Social networks, such as Facebook and Instagram, and messaging platforms, such as WhatsApp or Telegram, are suffering cuts by order of the authorities in Cuba after the outbreak of the protests, according to the internet surveillance observatory Netblocks.According to a statement on its website, this body detected “partial interruptions” in the services of several communication platforms on Monday and added that the “targeted restrictions” are likely intended to limit r the flow of information emanating from Cuba after thousands of people took to the streets of the country to protest against the government on Sunday. Netblocks’ measurements found that “WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram platforms, as well as some Telegram servers, are being disrupted in the government’s Etecsa (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba, S.A.), including Cubacel, the mobile network operated by Cuba’s only telecommunications company.” According to this observatory, the outages have been confirmed by users of these services on the island. Netblocks’ internet measurements from 50 observation points on Monday confirm that the servers on those platforms are “partially or totally unavailable on landlines and cell phones.” Despite this, Netblocks confirms that VPN services, used in many countries to bypass censorship, are still operational for many users. The number of people arrested in the July 11 protests in several locations in Cuba is unknown, as authorities have provided no details of the arrests. The day of demonstrations of the 11-J is considered historic since these acts of protest had never occurred in Cuba since the Revolution of 1959, with the exception of the famous “Maleconazo” of 1994, when groups of demonstrators took to the streets in Havana to protest the shortage during the crisis of the “special period”. 

Original source in Spanish