Influencers and Organized Crime: Identifying Patterns in Their Relationship 

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 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 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

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 of Influencers and Organized Crime

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 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 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. 

SEE ALSO: After El Mencho: A Data-Driven Look at an Evolving Drug Market

Influencers are not a tracked victim category, and the climate of violence and terror in Sinaloa discourages investigation into cases involving them. The lack of solid evidence was part of a nuanced story. The AI engine didn’t shy away from accepting its own limitations, and advised me on how to move my query forward, recommending on-the-ground fieldwork as part of that. 

Nelson’s follow-up questions were also thought-provoking, and welcome, encouraging me to think through elements of the issue that I hadn’t considered, the likes of which aren’t proffered to me when I’m using, for example, ChatGPT. Nelson’s voice and tone also proved to be, at least to me, more informed on organized crime in the region ins general, better sourced, and clearer about sourcing. 

If you’re a crime nerd working on a complex research question, Nelson is worth a try. It won’t do the reporting for you, but it can help organize information, identify trends, challenge assumptions, and generate new avenues for investigation. Use the discount code INSIGHTCRIME25OFF to access Nelson and start exploring the platform for yourself. 

InSight Crime’s collaboration with Nelson is new and experimental, and an effort to expand our audience as well as serve Nelson users with the best organized crime information out there.