Cuban government will struggle to rein in social media

Significance

It is also creating a new ministry-level Institute for Information and Social Communication (IICS) to replace the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) and modernise the state’s communication apparatus. With social media use now widespread across Cuba, however, the prospects of either strategy defusing the government’s communication challenges look dim.

Impacts

• Reform will be at least as much about asserting control as regaining the hearts and minds of Cubans.
• Clear examples of openness and fresh faces on television would help Havana to demonstrate that meaningful reform is coming.
• Havana will look to China for surveillance technology, but will be unable to impose its state internet management.