Nigeria is facing a resurgence of terrorist activity, spearheaded by Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), primarily in the northeastern regions. This conflict, which has displaced over two million and claimed 40,000 lives since 2009, is now coupled with a concerning trend: the exploitation of TikTok by these groups for propaganda and recruitment. This guide explores how terrorist organizations are leveraging TikTok to expand their reach, radicalize individuals, and pose new threats in the digital age.
The Rise of Digital Terrorism:
Terrorist groups have long embraced digital technology to achieve their goals. They have exploited the fluidity of the digital space and weak international coordination on content regulation. This allowed the spread of prohibited books, inflammatory speeches, and instructions for manufacturing weapons.
These groups have also been drawn to social media for “virtual” relationships with various demographics. In many instances, these online connections have become “real-world” commitments, leading individuals to training camps across the globe. This online activity has translated into real-world attacks, such as vehicle rammings and stabbings in Western cities.
TikTok: A New Battlefield
As a result, terrorist organizations have adapted to new digital platforms, including Facebook, X, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, and, most recently, TikTok. This shift is due to TikTok’s ability to facilitate hybrid operations. These groups are using the platform to boost their publishing, propaganda, and recruitment efforts. They are doing this by broadcasting content such as weapons displays, training exercises, the amounts of money potentially earned from attacks, and threats.
The French newspaper, Le Monde, published a summary with the French News Agency in May 2025, outlining accounts on the app that promote extremist ideas and anti-Western sentiments. This mirrors the methods used by Boko Haram’s former leader, Abubakar Shekau. The AFP reviewed 19 TikTok accounts, which were frequently broadcasting images of individuals in religious attire, encouraging violence against the government, and collaborating with accounts that displayed large amounts of weapons. The accounts also promoted recordings of Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf, and Salafi preacher, Isa Goro.
TikTok’s Appeal to Terrorist Groups:
Terrorist groups are increasingly turning to TikTok as they seek to expand their reach and diversify their sources of expression. The following are the key drivers:
TikTok’s Popularity Among Youth: In 2024, TikTok was the most downloaded app globally, with over 825 million downloads. In Nigeria alone, there were approximately 24 million active users. According to DemandSage, about 66% of TikTok users are between 18 and 34 years old. Because of this, terrorist groups are targeting the platform in order to communicate with young people for recruitment. This was illustrated by a former jihadist who defected from Boko Haram, who stated that groups using TikTok have abandoned the “boring” traditional methods, and are using an appealing modern language that is effective with young people, aged 16–30, who are most vulnerable to recruitment.
Live Streaming: TikTok allows for live broadcasting, enabling real-time interaction between content creators and followers. This creates a sense of mutual trust and encourages the display of the group members’ faces, traditional clothing, and familiar expressions in the local language. According to the AFP, this has, in confirmed cases, allowed for Q&A sessions, and interaction with comments. This poses new threats, such as providing a new channel for funding, as some accounts receive digital gifts from followers that can be converted to cash. This can also result in the normalization of violence and acts of killing in society, and expand the group’s social base.
Limitations in Linguistic Monitoring: TikTok’s content moderation systems have technical gaps that allow terrorists to bypass content moderation. While the app has taken measures, efforts to monitor extremist content remain slow and inadequate. The challenge is further compounded by the use of local languages, such as Fulfulde and Hausa. These languages are spoken by around 72 million people in West Africa, and TikTok’s algorithms are unable to provide real-time alerts. This allows extremist content to remain online for weeks or even months before removal, due to live streaming capabilities and the lack of automated deletion features.
Diminished Ideological Focus: The use of short videos on TikTok, in recruitment efforts, reveals the dominance of material motivations, rather than ideological convictions. This reflects reports that psychological, sociological, and economic factors have a greater influence on the behavior of terrorists than religious narratives. A UN Development Programme report in February 2023, on the motivations for extremism in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, Cameroon, and Somalia, concluded that “Islamist” ideology is not the primary driver for joining terrorist groups. Instead, it found that “work” was the main factor at 40%, followed by “joining family or friends” at 22%, and “religious factor” at only 17%.
Improving the Response:
The increasing use of TikTok by terrorist groups, on content and technical levels, necessitates improvements to cybersecurity technology, and stronger international cooperation in digital infrastructure and the development of qualified experts. This can be achieved through two key approaches:
Addressing Linguistic Shortcomings: This can be done by integrating local languages in the regions where terrorist activity is widespread, into the cybersecurity system. This includes the same 75 languages that are covered by the app’s automatic supervision system. According to HumAngle in August 2024, the organization must also strengthen cooperation with local NGOs to understand the cultural and linguistic expressions of local languages and integrate them into the prevention system.
Government Awareness: Governments need to be aware of the potential for new developments in terrorism. This includes digital use and the exploitation of AI to create stronger interaction between extremist calls and youth trends. The “hybrid terrorism” model combines religious motives with nihilism, which makes it better at recruitment and action, and less vulnerable to security monitoring.
Conclusion:
The rise of digital terrorism on platforms like TikTok represents a significant challenge. By understanding the tactics employed by groups like Boko Haram, governments and tech companies can develop more effective strategies to combat the spread of extremist content and protect vulnerable populations. The fight against terrorism in the digital age requires constant adaptation, innovation, and collaboration to stay ahead of evolving threats.
