The rising popularity of social networks has not been able to prevent from all types of people from creating profiles used to upload all kinds of information and pictures, even if it's members of organized crime using these platforms to increase their reach.
A recent investigation carried out by Canadian research institute The SecDev Foundation, says that organized crime members in Mexico show off their large collections of guns and luxuries on the Internet, and use social networks to talk about their organizations, their crimes and tell citizens of their ideologies.
Through the Open Empowerment Initiative, the institute offers information on how the Internet is a platform that allows drug traffickers to increase their reach, highlighting the power that crime has achieved in Brazil, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America.
According to Border Beat, researcher Antoniet Nouvet, member of The SecDev Foundation, said that drug cartel members use social networks to develop "public relations campaigns", with Facebook and YouTube being favored by them.
The website highlights that in September, the Gulf Cartel uploaded a video showing its members handing out supplies to victims of hurricane Ingrid in northern Mexico. The video has thousands of views and was distributed on Facebook and Twitter.
Another relevant case was the video published by the leader of "The Knights Templar", "La Tuta", who explains the structure and rules of "his" territory for about 30 minutes.
The video has been seen more than a million times on YouTube.
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