Weaponising social media

The report documents a coordinated strategy in Guatemala where social media disinformation is used to delegitimise Indigenous leaders and land activists, facilitating their criminalisation by the state. It highlights the roles of Attorney General Consuelo Porras and networks of 'fake news' accounts in targeting figures like Luis Pacheco and Leocadio Juracán. The document argues that social media giants—Meta, X, and TikTok—are complicit by failing to moderate hate speech and disinformation, which often precedes legal persecution.

• Indigenous leaders who protested against efforts to overturn the 2023 Guatemalan election results have faced a wave of criminalisation, including charges of terrorism, sedition, and illicit association. Specifically, former deputy energy minister Luis Pacheco and leaders Hector Chaclán and Esteban Toc were arrested on such charges in 2025.
• Social media platforms are used as tools to disinform and strengthen the criminalisation of defenders by smearing them as terrorists, traitors, or puppets of foreign interests. Facebook, used by nearly 80% of adults in Guatemala in early 2025, and TikTok, used by 89%, are primary vectors for these attacks.
• Land activists in Guatemala are targeted through a pattern of criminalisation and intimidation, often involving fabricated charges of aggravated trespass and arson. The Civil Association for the Defense of Private Property (ACDEPRO) and the Special Prosecutor against the Crime of Trespass coordinate to label activists as 'violent criminals' and 'terrorists'.
• Entire Indigenous communities, such as the Maya Poqomchi’ villages of Washington and Dos Fuentes, face mass criminalisation. Over 300 residents have faced charges of illegal occupation of land they claim as ancestral, while the ranching firm Agropecuaria Pananish uses social media to label them 'invaders' and 'criminals'.
• A network of 'net centres'—comprising fake news sites like XelaNews and Republica, and anonymous accounts such as 'Yes, Master!'—coordinates with the Prosecutor's Office to pre-empt arrests and propagate smears. Some of these actors, including Ricardo Mendez Ruiz of the Foundation Against Terrorism (FCT), have been sanctioned by the US and EU.
• The report argues that social media companies (Meta, X, and TikTok) are failing to prevent the weaponisation of their platforms, exacerbated by cuts to content moderation and fact-checking following the 2024 US election.

APA

Global Witness (2026). Weaponising social media. https://globalwitness.org/documents/1003/Weponising_Social_Media_Guatemala_-_March_2026.pdf

Chicago

Global Witness. Weaponising social media. 2026. https://globalwitness.org/documents/1003/Weponising_Social_Media_Guatemala_-_March_2026.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=Weaponising social media |date=March 2026 |url=https://globalwitness.org/documents/1003/Weponising_Social_Media_Guatemala_-_March_2026.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitness2026weaponising, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Weaponising social media}}, institution = {Global Witness}, year = {2026}, month = mar, url = {https://globalwitness.org/documents/1003/Weponising_Social_Media_Guatemala_-_March_2026.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }