RSF says Burkina Faso junta uses online group to target journalists

Reporters Without Borders said on 23 July 2026 that Burkina Faso's ruling junta has an organised online group that spreads propaganda and intimidates journalists and critics on social media.

The media watchdog said in a study that the authorities had set up a group of cyber activists called the Rapid Communication Intervention Battalion, or BIR-C. RSF described it as an online militia that combines propaganda, disinformation and cyber-harassment against people who criticise junta leader Ibrahim Traore.

RSF said the group uses harassment, manipulated images, insults, threats, smear campaigns and disinformation, and that journalists are its main targets. It said the group is not a spontaneous citizens' movement and alleged that authorities and their supporters are directly involved.

One example cited by RSF was an online campaign against Sky News reporter Yousra Elbagir after she produced a report critical of the government following an April interview with Traore. RSF said hundreds of messages, mostly on Facebook, tried to discredit her and damage her reputation. It said the messages included attacks on her family and doctored images portraying her as a devil and a bat.

RSF also said Defence Minister Celestin Simpore was among the figures involved. The group said it analysed conversations from a WhatsApp group that several sources identified as belonging to the online militia, and that one of the numbers in the group belonged to Simpore.

Burkina Faso has been ruled since a September 2022 coup by Traore, a 38-year-old army captain. The source report said critical voices in the country face repression, and said Traore has pursued anti-Western policies and openly says he is not presiding over a democracy.