By Ingrid Bachmann
Two Twitter users -- a 35-year-old woman and 41-year-old man -- were arrested last week in Venezuela, accused of using the social network site to spread "false rumors" in an attempt to "destabilize the national banking system" after the take-over of Banco Federal for liquidity problems, reported El Nacional and EFE.
The spreading of malicious rumors qualifies as a crime under the Banking Act punishable by up to 11 years imprisonment, added Correo del Caroní. According to El Universal, police could arrest 15 other Twitter users for the same crime.
Organizations like Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have called on the Venezuelan government to release the two Twitterers. According to RSF, the government is taking disproportionate measures against "two simple Internet users who just expressed themselves on Twitter."
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
