BOGOTA: Facebook and TikTok failed to stop Colombian armed groups from using their platforms to recruit children and, in some cases, their systems appeared to promote such content, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
HRW said armed groups were exploiting social media to portray militant life as attractive, displaying money, jewellery and training camps while circulating deceptive job offers aimed at young people.
Around 1,500 children have been recruited by armed groups in Colombia since 2021, according to the rights organisation.
Colombia Child Recruitment Through Social Media
Children recruited by armed groups have been used in combat, intelligence gathering and handling weapons, drones and explosives, HRW said. Some minors without adequate combat training have been used as “cannon fodder”.
HRW Americas director Juanita Goebertus said digital platforms must recognise that their services were being exploited to recruit children, warning that such recruitment could facilitate serious crimes, including war crimes.
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Indigenous children have been disproportionately affected. Almost half of the documented child recruits were Indigenous, although Indigenous communities account for around four percent of Colombia’s population.
Girls represented approximately 40 percent of recruited children and faced heightened risks of sexual violence, according to HRW.
Armed Groups ‘Sell a Lifestyle’
The report described posts showing armed-group members displaying cash and jewellery or appearing at training camps. Some content featured “narcocorridos”, a music genre associated with stories about notorious drug traffickers.
Mathew Charles, founder of the Mi Historia foundation, said armed organisations were particularly effective at using social media to “sell a lifestyle”, including promises of easy money.
HRW said dissident factions that emerged from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) accounted for 74 percent of documented child recruitment cases between 2021 and 2025.
HRW raised its findings with Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and TikTok owner ByteDance. Both companies said the specific content identified by the organisation had been removed.
Meta said it continually works to improve efforts against child recruitment, while TikTok said it proactively prevents illegal armed and organised criminal groups from using its platform to exploit or recruit minors.
Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement ended decades of conflict with FARC, but other armed groups continue operating across parts of the country.
