--- title: What You Need To Know About Cuba's Twitter | TIME description: Tens of thousands of Cubans all tapped into the same social network, never realizing until now their version basically of Twitter was being run by the U.S. government. Here are five things you need to know about ZunZuneo. canonical: https://time.com/video/Q88q2hmu/ og:title: What You Need To Know About Cuba's Twitter og:description: Tens of thousands of Cubans all tapped into the same social network, never realizing until now their version basically of Twitter was being run by the U.S. government. Here are five things you need to know about ZunZuneo. og:url: https://time.com/video/Q88q2hmu/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Q88q2hmu/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What You Need To Know About Cuba's Twitter twitter:description: Tens of thousands of Cubans all tapped into the same social network, never realizing until now their version basically of Twitter was being run by the U.S. government. Here are five things you need to know about ZunZuneo. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Q88q2hmu/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # What You Need To Know About Cuba's Twitter > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: What You Need To Know About Cuba's Twitter [Watch (HLS stream): What You Need To Know About Cuba's Twitter](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Q88q2hmu.m3u8) (2:03)  _Published 2014-04-03. Tens of thousands of Cubans all tapped into the same social network, never realizing until now their version basically of Twitter was being run by the U.S. government. Here are five things you need to know about ZunZuneo._ --- Jul 27, 2023 4:21 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [New on Twitter Group Messages](/video/mTvNL4Fy/) ### New on Twitter Group Messages [Cuba's \(Rocky\) Love Affair with The Harley-Davidson](/video/DMSlpLWy/) ### Cuba's (Rocky) Love Affair with The Harley-Davidson [Reading While They Roll: Cuba's Cigar Factory Tradition](/video/TAzO4ZLp/) ### Reading While They Roll: Cuba's Cigar Factory Tradition --- ## Transcript Tens of thousands of Cubans all tapped into the same social network, never realizing until now, their version of Twitter was being run by the U. S. government. Initially, they sent messages about weather, soccer, and music to build an audience and so as not to alert the Cuban government. Later, they planned to push messages, which they hope would encourage dissent. And so, ZunZuneo was born. The name is slang for a Cuban hummingbird's tweet. Here are five things you need to know about what headlines worldwide now call the Cuban Twitter. Number one, a key contact inside Cuba's state- run cell provider made the whole thing possible by slipping half a million Cuban cell phone numbers to an engineer in Spain. With a way around state- controlled internet, and backdoor access to hundreds of thousands of Cubans. The project moved forward in an indirect attempt to overthrow Raul Castro. Two, the AP reports, ZunZuneo never actually reached its goal of sending out messages to spark dissent. The service launched in February 2010. While ZunZuneo had 40, 000 subscribers in only about a year. It shut down in 2012 because the contractor couldn't make it financially self- sustaining. Three, ZunZuneo was paid for and run by the U. S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, which oversees billions of dollars in humanitarian aid and has always insisted it doesn't spy on other countries. The AP reports the money USAID gave to a contractor for ZunZuneo was publicly earmarked for an unspecified project in Pakistan. Four, we don't yet know of ZunZuneo was illegal. Covert actions require presidential approval, but officials at USAID wouldn't the AP who authorized the program. The agency also wouldn't say whether the white house even knew about it. And five, there are now a lot of questions in what happens to Cubans who've suddenly found out their personal information was collected in an authoritarian land. A lot of them were really happy about the service. And, if the Cuban government caught on that this was a U. S. backed program. You know, the, I think the question remains, is were they put at risk? It also remains unclear how these revelations will now affect Alan Gross, a USAID worker, imprisoned in Cuba since 2009. I'm Lauren Gores. 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