The sudden and unannounced blockade of the Mailchimp broadcasting platform against independent media linked to Cuba has been lifted without explanation from the US company. Although it is suspected that the decision to close the accounts was due to fear of possible sanctions derived from the embargo, the company has not commented on those ups and downs that have affected its clients, among them, 14ymedio.
Our team managed to contact the platform on Wednesday the 10th, five days after detecting the closure of the account and sending several emails to technical support that did not get answers. On Friday, November 5, when an attempt was made to send the newsletter that thousands of readers and followers have received for three years, the page indicated that there was no account linked to the email and password entered.
The 14ymedio publishing company is based in Spain due to the impossibility of registering an independent newspaper in Cuba, so it should not have been affected by this situation
Given the arbitrary decision of the platform and the impossibility of contacting it, we publish a note which took effect, since we obtained a response indicating that the account had been suspended in application of the legal terms. They indicate that in order to enjoy the service it is essential, among other conditions, not to have residence or headquarters in “Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria or any other territory that is subject to an embargo by the US Government, or that it has been designated by him as a country that supports terrorism. “
The publishing company of 14ymedio It is based in Spain due to the impossibility of registering an independent newspaper in Cuba, so it should not have been affected by this situation. Mailchimp asked this newspaper for documentation proving residence outside of Cuba and, after sending the papers, proceeded to restore the service.
Although 14ymedio It was at least eight days without being able to access its account, with the databases retained on the platform and without being able to send its traditional newsletter, the company has charged the full amount of this month of service to the newspaper this Wednesday.
Others affected by these measures were Neighborhood Journalism and AM: PM, and both confirm to 14ymedio that they were able to recover their accounts, although in their case they did not have to document anything.
“I didn’t get to send anything because I didn’t have time – explains Elaine Díaz, from Neighborhood Journalism. “On Monday they sent a document saying that the situation had already been reviewed and that the account was now ready to be used.” Díaz initially ran into the same problem, the complication to contact the service that, once an account is suspended, eliminates the possibility of you contacting the most efficient customer service, which can only be accessed from the contracted space itself. .
Díaz says that he resorted to The touch. The independent Cuban media is based in Poland and was not affected by the problem, therefore, through its account, they contacted the advisor who indicated the way to proceed for sending the documentation. Díaz believes that Mailchimp finally proceeded to do a general review of the media accounts related to Cuba, since in his case the service was recovered without having to do anything.
“I think it is a result of the pressure exerted on networks because I cannot find another justification for it,” he says, although a sufficient reaction to force the company to change its policy has been ruled out from 14ymedio
“I believe that it is a result of the pressure that was exerted in networks because I can not find another justification,” he maintains, although from 14ymedio a reaction sufficient to force the company to change its policy is ruled out.
Rafa G. Escalona, from AM: PM, also confirms that their account has been recovered but, in their case, they have declined to continue with the US platform. “We wrote immediately and had no news for two weeks, until yesterday, saying that they had reactivated it, but we already moved to another platform. What bothers me the most was the blunt and unnotified way in which they handled it. Everything was very arbitrary. As I took it away from you, I’ll give it back to you, I don’t think so, we already have enough arbitrariness in our lives, “he alleges.
Elaine Díaz, on the other hand, considers that the movement is finally positive. “That Mailchimp has acted like this is a good thing, because then it implies that they are going to start to assume specific policies towards independent organizations, which is fine. In the end, if you block a whole country, you are also affecting civil society and it is better that they establish themselves individual and not collective responsibilities “.
The Mailchimp platform, used worldwide to manage and automate the sending of emails, had left its Cuban users without the service they use to send information bulletins a few days after the Civic March of 15N. Coincidence? In any case, the service was finally restored just in time for the independent media to tell how the regime deployed its repressive forces to impede the constitutional right of its citizens to express their disagreement in the Cuban streets.
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