Facebook and TikTok promoted Colombia armed posts: HRW

Facebook and TikTok failed to stop content by Colombian armed groups from spreading to recruit children and in some cases appeared to promote the posts, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.

The rights group said the content glorified life in armed groups and promoted deceptive job offers. It said about 1,500 children have been recruited by armed groups since 2021.

Human Rights Watch said armed groups use children for combat, handling weapons, drones and explosives, and intelligence gathering. In some cases, the group said, children without combat training are used as “cannon fodder.”

The group said almost half of child recruits are Indigenous children, although Indigenous people represent about four percent of Colombia’s population. It said girls account for about 40 percent of child recruits and are particularly exposed to sexual violence.

Human Rights Watch described posts showing armed group members displaying cash and jewelry, appearing in training camps or listening to “narcocorridos,” a Mexican music genre associated with drug traffickers. It said some users asked in comment sections how they could join.

The group said dissident groups that emerged from the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, were responsible for 74 percent of child recruitment cases it documented between 2021 and 2025.

Human Rights Watch said it informed Meta, Facebook’s parent company, and TikTok owner ByteDance of the problem. Both companies said they had removed the specific content mentioned.

Meta said it “constantly strives” to improve its approach to combating such content across its platforms. TikTok said it proactively prevents illegal armed groups and organised criminal groups from using the platform, including to target, exploit or recruit minors.

Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement ended a half-century of war between the government and the FARC guerrilla group, but remaining armed groups continue to control large areas in remote parts of the northeast and south.