Following the presidential elections of July 28 in Venezuela, peaceful demonstrations sparked across the country condemning the electoral authority’s official result, which declared Nicolás Maduro the winner despite blatant fraud. Maduro’s regime deployed police and military units to repress peaceful demonstrations while also using surveillance, blocking of communications, and digital lynching to silence anyone speaking out against the electoral fraud. Maduro’s government enabled VenApp, a state app initially created to report failures in public services, with a new feature for Venezuelans to denounce non-Chavista community members. Independent media raised alarms for Google and Apple about VenApp being used to persecute dissidents. On July 31, news broke that VenApp was no longer available for downloading on Goole Play and Apple Store. In response, Maduro’s sympathizers distributed freely and uncontrollably an APK file for VenApp, enabling the app to function on Android devices.

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