Nigeria has become increasingly effective at policing online critics while armed groups continue to use social media platforms to recruit followers, display ransom proceeds, coordinate criminal activities, and publicly advertise violence with limited consequences.
Development Diaries reports that a recent Premium Times investigation documented how Boko Haram, ISWAP, and affiliated bandit groups are using platforms such as TikTok, Telegram, and WhatsApp as tools for recruitment, propaganda, coordination, ransom negotiations, and psychological warfare, prompting the Nigerian Senate to direct security agencies to identify and arrest criminals using social media to publicise their activities.
The directive followed growing public concern over videos showing armed groups openly celebrating criminal activities online, with one of the most widely circulated examples emerging in early 2026 when a video showed men identified as bandits counting stacks of naira notes reportedly collected from a kidnapping operation in northwestern Nigeria.
The video attracted thousands of views on TikTok, and the men involved appeared comfortable enough to display both the proceeds of crime and their confidence that they would not be immediately apprehended.
The infrastructure exists
Nigeria has spent years investing in digital infrastructure through initiatives such as the National Identification Number (NIN), the Bank Verification Number (BVN), and the expansion of telecommunications networks, creating one of Africa’s most connected societies.
The same digital environment that supports financial inclusion, digital commerce, healthcare access, and civic participation also provides opportunities for criminal networks to recruit members, distribute propaganda, coordinate activities, and negotiate ransoms.
The challenge is therefore the absence of a security architecture that has developed at the same pace as the technology itself.
This gap becomes more noticeable when compared with the state’s record of enforcing cybercrime laws against online commentators, journalists, bloggers, and critics.
In fact, Nigeria’s Cybercrime Act and its subsequent amendments have demonstrated that authorities can monitor digital activity and pursue prosecutions when they choose to do so.
However, the same level of urgency has not produced a comparable record of systematic action against online terrorist recruitment, extremist fundraising, or criminal propaganda networks.
A country that can identify a blogger for criticising a public official should also be capable of identifying criminals who publicly display ransom proceeds and promote violence to thousands of viewers online.
What criminal networks are doing online
TikTok’s recommendation systems help push content towards users likely to engage with it, creating opportunities for extremist messaging to reach vulnerable audiences, while Telegram provides channels where information can be shared with limited interference, and WhatsApp offers encrypted spaces for coordination and communication that are difficult to monitor through conventional methods.
So social media has become part of the operational infrastructure of violent groups, as recruitment, propaganda, logistics, fundraising, intimidation, and public relations now happen through the same platforms millions of ordinary Nigerians use every day.
The videos themselves perform multiple functions, such as glorifying criminal activity, encouraging recruitment, intimidating communities, and reinforcing the perception that violence remains profitable.
What is failing
Several institutions have responsibilities in this area, including the police, the Department of State Services (DSS), military intelligence agencies, telecommunications regulators, and cybercrime units. However, despite the number of agencies involved, Nigeria still lacks a publicly articulated digital counter-extremism framework that explains agency coordination, platform cooperation protocols, evidence preservation procedures, and the use of digital intelligence in criminal prosecutions.
As a result, multiple agencies monitor online activity without a publicly understood system for integrating intelligence, prioritising threats, and responding consistently to extremist content.
The fragmentation extends beyond government institutions because Nigeria’s relationship with major social media companies remains underdeveloped compared with the scale of the threat. Citizens regularly encounter extremist content online, but there is little public information about the arrangements in place for identifying accounts, preserving digital evidence, removing dangerous content, or supporting criminal investigations and prosecutions.
Citizens’ rights
Nigeria’s constitution places the security and welfare of citizens among the primary responsibilities of government, while also protecting freedom of expression. Any digital counter-terrorism strategy must therefore clearly distinguish between legitimate political speech and content that promotes violence, recruitment, or criminal activity.
Who pays the price
The ransom money displayed online often originates from abductions affecting communities already struggling with insecurity, displacement, and poverty. Many victims are women and girls taken from schools, farms, and rural settlements across northern Nigeria.
When videos glorifying those crimes circulate widely, it is the government’s failure to protect the rights and dignity of the people whose suffering finances the content being displayed for public entertainment.
What needs to happen
The Office of the National Security Advisor should publish a comprehensive digital counter-terrorism strategy that identifies the lead agency, outlines cooperation arrangements with major social media platforms, and establishes accountability mechanisms for responding to flagged extremist content.
Citizens should continue to report extremist recruitment materials, ransom displays, and incitement content, while documenting platform responses and sharing information with relevant authorities and independent monitoring organisations.
Nigeria has already invested heavily in the systems that connect millions of people online. Citizens now have every reason to expect the same level of seriousness in preventing criminals from using those systems as a marketplace for violence, recruitment, and public celebration of crimes that continue to devastate communities across the country.
