Influencers and Organized Crime: Identifying Patterns in Their Relationship

Social media influencers are playing an increasingly important role in organized crime. The kidnapping earlier this year of social media star Nicole Pardo made headlines beyond Mexico, as readers waited to see what fate would befall an influencer living in the orbit of crime.

Social media influencers are playing an increasingly important role in organized crime. The kidnapping of social media star Nicole Pardo earlier this year created headlines beyond Mexico, as readers waited to see what fate would befall the crime-adjacent influencer.

Pardo, who earned a good living selling narco-branded caps and commissioned a narco corrido, a drug-trafficking ballad, about herself, is one of many social media influencers who have become an increasingly vital part of organized crime’s toolkit: facilitating money laundering, recruiting people into criminal armies, luring victims into fraud schemes, and simply promoting narco culture and propaganda.

Pardo, who made a good living selling narco-branded caps and commissioned a narco corrido (drug-trafficking-themed ballads) about herself, is one of the many social media influencers who are an increasingly vital part of the organized crime toolbox, facilitating money laundering, recruiting people into criminal armies, duping victims into fraud schemes, and simply pushing narco culture and propaganda.

But their proximity to the underworld, whether real or performed, can draw them into its violence. Culiacan in particular, the city in Sinaloa that is home to both Pardo and, of course, the Sinaloa Cartel, has in recent years been one of the most dangerous places in Latin America for influencers.

But their proximity to the underworld, whether real or feigned, can get them caught up in its violence. Culiacán in particular, the city in Sinaloa that is home to both Pardo and of course the Sinaloa Cartel, has been one of the most dangerous places for influencers in Latin America in the last few years.

See also: How AI Illuminated Tren de Aragua’s Money Laundering Methods

SEE ALSO: How AI Illuminated Tren de Aragua’s Money Laundering Methods

One of the challenges in writing about Pardo and the broader trends surrounding digital reality creators like her was piecing together information on how organized crime groups have used social media in general. Accounts and posts are often deleted by their creators or taken down, and reporting on their content and motives is often inaccurate. Interpretations of these creators’ messaging, especially since they tend to avoid more traditional media in order to retain some control over their image and message, are not always warranted.

One of the challenges presented by writing about Pardo and the broader trends around the digital reality creators like her was bringing together information on how organized crime groups have used social media, broadly speaking. Accounts and posts often get deleted by the creators or taken down, and reporting of their content and motives is often inaccurate. Interpretations of the messaging of these creators – who tend to be shy of the more traditional media in order to maintain some sort of control of their image and message—isn’t always justified.

Nelson on the Trends Linking Influencers and Organized CrimeNelson on the Trends of Influencers and Organized Crime

I turned to Nelson to try to obtain a more structured analysis of the behavior and trends surrounding social media content producers, as well as the violence directed against them. The AI model first returned reports and documentation on how social media is being manipulated by criminal groups to influence communities, launder money, and recruit young people, which was useful.

I went to Nelson to try to obtain a more structured analysis of the behavior and trends surrounding social media content producers, as well as the violence against them. The AI model first came back to me on reports and documentation of how social media is being manipulated by criminal groups to influence communities, launder money, and recruit youngsters, which was useful.

But then it went deeper into the weeds of why influencers are targeted, explaining that posting content favorable to one faction can draw pressure from rival groups, and that publishing material exposing organized crime activity can bring reprisals. Influencers who refuse to cooperate with a criminal group seeking to use their platform can be coerced or killed, and at times they inadvertently document territorial movements or safe houses in ways that can become a liability.

But then it then got a little more in the weeds about why influencers are targeted, explaining that posting content favorable to one faction can draw heat from rival groups, and how publishing content that exposes organized crime activity can bring repercussions. Influencers who refuse to cooperate with an organized crime group seeking to use their platform can be coerced or killed, and sometimes they inadvertently document territorial movements or safe houses that can become a liability.

Nelson underscored the gap between reporting and social media news about influencers, on the one hand, and hard, verifiable data on the other. It was clear about its own limitations there, refusing to present open-source information as more reliable than it is and warning against excessive reliance on the information already available.

Nelson highlighted the gap between reporting and social media news around influencers and hard, verifiable data, and was clear about its own shortcomings there, not representing open-source information as over-reliable, and cautioning against being too reliant on existing information.