US govt created Cuban social network to spread turmoil - AP

The US government created a mobile phone-based social network in Cuba aimed at undermining the country's communist government, according to an investigation by the Associated Press (AP).

The free text messaging platform, known as ZunZuneo, was used by more than 40,000 Cuban users between 2010 and 2012, when the service was shut down by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which paid for and ran the covert program, the AP said.

In order to hide the network from Cuban authorities, the US government used front companies and a Cayman Islands bank account, while not revealing to users or network hires the true nature of the project, according to the AP report based on more than 1,000 pages of the project's documents.

The AP said ZunZuneo aimed to reach hundreds of thousands of Cuban subscribers through "non-controversial" content before inspiring political activism and mass gatherings that would modify the balance of power between Cuba's state and civil society.

A spokesman for USAID told the AP that US congressional staff reviewed the agency's Cuba programs in 2013 and concluded they did not break any US laws.

The report also suggests that the social network had gained widespread popularity in Cuba as it provided a platform for one-to-one and one-to-many communications in a country where government censorship is rife and access to key communications tools, such as mobile telephony and the internet, have been restricted.

Telecommunications services also remain prohibitively expensive for most Cubans, as the average wage amounts to just US$20 per month.

Mobile telephony and internet penetration on the island nation remains among the lowest in the region, but the government has been taking steps to open access in recent months.

Cuban authorities are also looking to boost foreign investment in a range of economic sectors, a move that could potentially have a large impact on telecoms services in the country.