Harry Glover | 18 March 2024

Summary

• Mexican cartels are using social media to identify and recruit both vulnerable individuals, through the offer of cash, and individuals who are enticed by the romanticisation of the gang lifestyle. 

• Recruitment takes place on transparent applications, such as TikTok and Instagram, but details are given to recruits through encrypted communication applications such as WhatsApp. 

• The lack of regulation on social media presents a challenge to states that seek to suppress illicit activity that is promoted on the platforms. 

The emergence of social media, whilst benefiting and streamlining international communications, presents a unique challenge to states seeking to suppress illicit activity. Similarly, the notion that social media acts as an outlet for many individuals to both express themselves and receive news that may challenge state-controlled media further, increases the dilemma of criminal prevention. Additionally, social media writ-large can be an elusive method of communication, with applications such as WhatsApp offering encryption within conversations. With this understanding, it is possible to recognise how Mexican cartels use social media as a medium to recruit members. 

One of the more prolific cartels engaging with social media in Mexico is the Sinaloa cartel. The notorious group have more than a combined 100,000 Twitter followers and utilises TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram to recruit individuals to smuggle drugs across the American border. Importantly, approximately 25% of the output on these platforms romanticises the lifestyle of the gang, often showcasing the ‘narco life’ of exotic animals, large houses, expensive cars, and women. This percentage is similar to the output of violent propaganda, depicting torture and executions, which is approximately 22% of the volume of social media posts. However, whilst the sheer output of content plays a crucial role in recruitment, with many men joining to engage in and benefit from the aforementioned, Mexican cartels utilise social media as a direct outreach tool to recruit individuals in strategic locations. 

An investigative research report at Bloomberg examined how Mexican cartels are targeting individuals in southern American states who are active on social media and often disclose their less-than-ideal financial situations. The cartels then reach out to such individuals and offer them significant amounts of money, in comparison to their standard wage, to drive unknown goods across the border, including illegal migrants. A key challenge for law-enforcement here, with regards to recruitment specifically, is that whilst the outreach is often conducted on platforms such as Snapchat, the details of the recruitment are given across the encrypted messaging app WhatsApp. The acceleration of recruitment is staggering, given that many recruits are in vulnerable positions and the enticement of life-changing cash, in some cases reaching $20,000, is often enough for the individual to risk criminal charges. 

The use of social media to recruit gang members by Mexican cartels is more prevalent than ever. In particular, this is largely due to an influx of asylum seekers at the southern border of the United States with Mexico; distant and regional conflicts in Ukraine and Venezuela, for example, have increased the number of those seeking asylum in America. Indeed, some reports suggest that there are approximately 10,000 migrants at the border a day, with the majority being asylum seekers. Therefore, there is a greater incentive for Mexican cartels to exploit the monetary potential of illegal migration by recruiting vulnerable individuals through social media to drive migrants across the border. 

Forecast

• Short-term: Current regional conflicts will likely increase the number of asylum seekers, and as such, will likely see cartels continuing to engage with social media to recruit drivers for illegal migration. 

• Long-term: With little regulation on social media platforms to clamp down on romanticisation of violent behaviours, and platforms such as X advocating for widespread free speech, Mexican cartels are highly likely to continue to exploit the platforms in order to transnationally recruit vulnerable individuals. Additionally, the 2024 US presidential elections is likely to act as a pivotal moment for border control. If Donald Trump is to be successful then even greater punitive border control may see cartels relying on social media more, to recruit drug runners and people smugglers given that there is likely to be less legal migration into America.