Disruptions affecting multiple web services including the YouTube and VIVOplay streaming platforms and Microsoft Bing have been detected by the NetBlocks internet observatory on state provider CANTV (AS8048), starting 14:40 PM UTC Saturday 23 February 2019, 10:40 PM Venezuela time. The disruptions have come in place as National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó arrives at the Tienditas Bridge with president Iván Duque of Colombia.
Update – 12:45 AM: The disruption of YouTube, Bing, Google services and also Presicope occurred from 12:45 AM UTC (8:45 PM VET) to 01:17 AM UTC (9:17 PM VET) during the joint press during the joint press conference by Juan Guaidó and the president of Colombia at the Tienditas Bridge.
Update – Sunday 24 8:36 PM: Further streaming platform disruptions observed as Guaidó arrives in Bogotá for Lima group meeting:
Incident duration: 65 minutes #InternetVE #Venezuela #KeepItOn ➡️https://t.co/4vpnq5CWu6 pic.twitter.com/hk7w1DNiKj
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) February 24, 2019
Update – Monday 25 5:00 PM: Streaming platform disruptions are again in effect as the Lima group meeting takes place, lasting from 4:40PM to 5:55PM UTC.
Update: YouTube and internet streaming services restricted in #Venezuela from 4:40PM UTC (12:40PM VET) as U.S. VP Mike Pence addresses members of the #LimaGroup in Colombia; incident ongoing #KeepItOnhttps://t.co/4vpnq5CWu6
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) February 25, 2019
#25Feb El vicepresidente de los Estados Unidos, Mike Pence, (@VP), expresó que el régimen de Nicolás Maduro, está en su etapa final y que condenan desde norteamérica el trato violento a los voluntarios que intentaban ingresar la ayuda humanitaria a Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/4UddMwjZHP
— VPItv (@VPITV) February 25, 2019
Update: Same restriction as above in place again from 7:50 PM UTC as meetings continue.
Confirmed: Internet platforms including YouTube, VIVOplay, Google services and Bing disrupted from 2:40 PM UTC (10:40 AM VET) as Guaidó and Duque arrive at #Tienditas bridge amid #Venezuela–#Colombia border standoffhttps://t.co/4vpnq5CWu6 pic.twitter.com/N226YvXH0E
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) February 23, 2019
Developments from the border are being live-streamed from both countries, as Venezuelans and many international countries have sought to break a blockade imposed by incumbent president Maduro to prevent aid and supplies from entering Venezuela.
#AHORA Así llegó el presidente (E) de Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, junto al presidente colombiano, Iván Duque, al Puente Tienditas a pocos momentos de iniciar el envío de ayuda humanitaria para los venezolanos. #23Feb pic.twitter.com/aoizb1cj2j
— VPItv (@VPITV) February 23, 2019
Similar disruptions were observed yesterday during the airing of a prominent humanitarian aid concert, and the new outages follow patterns of website blocking associated with ephemeral censorship in Venezuela through recent weeks.
Methodology
Internet performance and service reachability are determined via NetBlocks web probe privacy-preserving analytics. Each measurement consists of latency round trip time, outage type and autonomous system number aggregated in real-time to assess service availability and latency in a given country. Network providers and locations are enumerated as vantage point pairs. The root cause of a service outage may be additionally corroborated by means of traffic analysis and manual testing as detailed in the report.
NetBlocks is an internet monitor working at the intersection of digital rights, cyber-security and internet governance. Independent and non-partisan, NetBlocks strives to deliver a fair and inclusive digital future for all.
[ press | contact ] Graphics and visualizations are provided for fair use in unaltered form reflecting the meaning and intent in which they were published, with clear credit and source attribution to NetBlocks. Intellectual property rights are protected including but not limited to key findings, facts and figures, trademarks, copyrights, and original reporting, are held by NetBlocks. Citation and source attribution are required at the point of use.