Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s official YouTube account mysteriously went offline on Saturday, September 20, 2025. State-run channel Telesur quickly announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the account had been “eliminated” without any prior explanation the night before.
Google, the parent company of YouTube, remained silent when asked about the sudden termination of the Venezuelan President’s channel. This development unfolds against a backdrop of escalating tensions between Venezuela and the United States, particularly following the recent deployment of U.S. warships and fighter jets to the southern Caribbean.
Prior to its disappearance on Friday, Maduro’s YouTube channel was a significant platform for his administration, boasting over 200,000 subscribers. It served as a primary outlet for broadcasting his speeches and segments from his regular state television program.
YouTube’s platform policies state that accounts are removed for “repeated violations of community guidelines,” which encompass issues like misinformation, hate speech, and content that “interferes with democratic processes.” This context is significant given that Maduro faced widespread accusations of rigging Venezuela’s presidential election last year. Hundreds of opposition activists presented tally sheets indicating a landslide loss for him, yet Venezuela’s electoral body, controlled by the socialist party, never released supporting data for its declaration of Maduro’s victory.
Further complicating matters, a federal court in New York indicted Maduro in 2020 on charges of conspiring to traffic cocaine into the United States. The U.S. government recently escalated its pressure, doubling the bounty for his capture to an astonishing $50 million. White House officials frequently characterize Maduro as a leader of a drug cartel, insisting he must face justice.
Despite ongoing oil sales from Venezuela to the U.S. and reciprocal deportation flights, the relationship between the two countries has severely deteriorated. A major point of contention arose last month with the deployment of eight American warships to a region in the southern Caribbean, close to the Venezuelan coastline.
The Trump administration has publicly stated that these ships, equipped with long-range missiles and carrying a landing force of 2,000 Marines, are engaged in an anti-drug trafficking mission.
However, Venezuela’s government views this deployment as a direct assault on its national sovereignty, interpreting it as a calculated effort to destabilize and ultimately overthrow Maduro’s regime.
According to the White House, the U.S. naval force has already intercepted and destroyed three speedboats suspected of carrying illicit drugs, resulting in the deaths of over a dozen individuals aboard these smaller vessels.