Cuban News Agency Denounces Cyberattack against YouTube Channel

March 18, 2024 Hour: 9:42 pm

The Latin American news agency Prensa Latina has denounced the loss of its YouTube channel, Prensa Latina TV, as a result of a cyberattack.

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The attack occurred on Saturday when the channel’s associated email account was hacked and its access and recovery credentials were modified, according to a statement issued by the Havana-based international news agency.

A U.S. company called MicroStrategy now appears in its place, with data on the channel’s opening date, views and accumulated subscribers similar to those of Prensa Latina TV.

The president of Prensa Latina, Luis Enrique González, told Xinhua that the cyberattack seeks to silence the truth and the voice of the agency on digital platforms. “It is an attack against the truth defended by Prensa Latina,” since its founding almost 65 years ago, he said.

González added that the news agency is already taking action to recover the hacked site.

The solidity of the Latin American news agency Prensa Latina in the international media scenario makes it a target for attacks by global hegemonic groups, its president Luis Enrique Gonzalez said today.#Cuba #CyberAttack #LatinAmericannewsagency #PrensaLatina pic.twitter.com/holvCuDic7

— Embajada de Cuba en Sierra Leona (@EmbajadaCuba)
March 18, 2024

Prensa Latina’s YouTube channel was opened in 2012 and had 64,500 subscribers. In the press release the agency said that last year it had a dynamic growth and accumulated more than 9.6 million views.

In 2023, it registered a dynamic growth when it started with 21 thousand and closed with 53 thousand 379, with a total of nine million 669 thousand views, compared to 812 thousand 738 in 2022.

In this regard, the agency said that these and other achievements reflect the consolidation of Prensa Latina as the voice of the Global South. It also ratified its commitment to the service of truth, consistent with its founding principles and objectives since June 16, 1959.

Prensa Latina also said it expects the U.S. computer company Google “to investigate what happened and adopt the necessary measures for the recovery of the channel attacked in violation of the most elementary rules of Internet operation.”