El Colegio de México documented over 100 active TikTok accounts used by organized crime to recruit young people in Mexico. The findings, published in April 2025 by the Seminar on Violence and Peace—founded by academic Sergio Aguayo—reveal a digital infrastructure that extends far beyond the simple fake job offers authorities were already aware of.
The study was conducted in collaboration with Northeastern University’s Civic A.I. Lab, which provided access to the TikTok API to track account activity. The research combined digital ethnography with a quantitative analysis of engagement metrics, follower counts, and the language used.
On March 5, 2025, the collective Guerreros Buscadores de Jalisco reported the discovery of Rancho Izaguirre in Teuchitlán, Jalisco. The property reportedly served as a training and extermination camp for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the criminal organization with the most significant presence identified in the study.
This discovery highlighted an issue the media had been warning about for months: cartels were posting job offers on platforms like Facebook and TikTok. Numerous disappearances of young people in the Valley of Mexico had already been linked to these fraudulent recruitment drives.
