Rebels in Colombia hire young people on social media. The UN wants a tiction and facebook to work more

Bogota, Colombia – Rebel groups in Colombia use applications such as Facebook and the Ticket to recruit children and young adults, and social media companies must do more to moderate content, says the United Nations.

UN’s best human rights officials in Colombia, in an interview with Associated PressBel that more investments needed in automated tools and human moderators to record videos that have set gangs and rebel groups that target marginalized communities.

Colombian rebelled groups like FARC-EMC are increasingly publishing videos that glamen life in their ranks and invite young people to enroll.

“These companies do not put enough resources in the online moderation of content in the global south,” Campbell said, calling Colombia, an example of how the “grave” of the threat can be for children and indigenous communities. He said companies take more actions in Global North, where they feel the most favorable pressure.

Campbell, who previously served as an expert on human rights and technology, recently met with representatives from the target, which he owns Facebook, to discuss how rebel groups and gangs can cease the youth employment platform.

He said that the company promised to work on the problem, and also seeks a meeting with the representatives of the Tiktok. Tik did not immediately respond to comment requests.

In e-mail, the target said that the company has a policy of banning terrorist organizations from the use of their platforms and cooperate with the implementation of the law to combat children’s employment efforts.

“We also cooperate with other information exchange companies and take actions against these developing threats via the Internet,” said the target.

Child employment has become a major problem in rural areas of Colombia who challenged military, drugs and rebel groups.

According to Colombia’s Human Rights Ombudsman, 409 children under the age of 18 were recruited in rebel groups in the southern American Nation last year, twice as much as 2023. years.

The UN recorded 216 cases of forced employment of minors in Colombia last year.

The problem is especially impressive in the province of Cauca in the southwest, where the fight intensified as rebel groups that left the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, the Gerilian Group in 2016. year did peace with the government.

Anyi Zapata, specialist in the rights of people with acin, the autochthonous association in Cauci, said that the rebel groups had a long targeted vulnerable children, offering them money to do small services and gifts like cell phones.

Now they set videos on social media that show members of motorcycles, SUVs and adventurous styles of life. One of the tictok accounts recently presented a video man on a motorcycle that carries camouflage, with the inscription: “Join me and you will know friendship without hypocrisy.”

Images often show the logos of rebel groups.

Campbell said that even when the accounts were taken, they can replace them another. He said that social media companies must share their data on such accounts in Colombian prosecutors, who can handle charges against people who publish content.

“It’s hard to get a balance between freedom of expression and legitimate speech, while pulling content that is clearly illegal and can cause harm,” Champbell said.