The popular social media platform TikTok has removed a hashtag from its search engine after cartel members were caught using it to highlight their crimes and recruit human smugglers.
A TikTok spokesperson told Fox News Digital that in addition to removing “#CartelTok,” from its search engine, the platform also removed “known leaders of cartels or gangs” that violated the organization’s policy.
Many of the videos in question showed cartels flashing piles of money, jewelry and luxury items that were used to entice teens in America and Mexico to smuggle illegal immigrants across the U.S. border.
The videos proved that the cartel members were not afraid to boast about their illegal operations, often flaunting their cash on TikTok and other apps, bragging about the ease at which they can evade authorities.
“Carteltok is WILDDD,” read a caption from a TikTok video posted on X.
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“On TikTok there’s currently a trend called ‘carteltok’, where Mexican cartels hire drug mules who are then paid in crypto. It almost seems as if the cartels are striking back at the Trump administration,” another X user wrote, sharing another video of cartels at work from another social media site.
The smugglers not only targeted TikTok for their recruitment, they used other social media sites, including Snapchat and Instagram, among others. They then use encrypted messaging apps, usually WhatsApp, to communicate anonymously with cartel members, getting audio or text messages instructing them where to pick up their human payloads, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris Olivarez previously told Fox News Digital.
Representatives for Snapchat, TikTok and Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, told Fox News Digital that they have policies in place to crack down on such content and remove such content when it does appear on their platforms.
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In August, 22 people were indicted in Arizona for allegedly recruiting truck drivers using Snapchat posts of cash glamorizing illegal migrant smuggling. Many of the posts claimed drivers can make hefty sums of money without the risk of being arrested.
In September, an Arizona man was sentenced to 71 months in prison for transporting hundreds of illegal immigrants, and investigators found Snapchat posts in which he gloated about cramming people into overcrowded vehicles in unsafe conditions. He also used minors to facilitate certain smuggling operations.
A conviction for conspiring to transport illegal aliens for profit carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in Arizona.
National Border Patrol Council Vice President Hector Garza told Fox News Digital that these videos on TikTok and other social media outlets are nothing new, but feels that the Trump administration is taking the videos seriously and actively working to secure the border.
“Our intelligence community within the Border Patrol and other agencies have always been tracking these types of activities on social media. Now we know that back in the Biden administration, we were tracking a lot of the different caravans that were coming into the United States. A lot of the promotion, the marketing that some of these cartels were doing in Central America… the United States has always tracked those activities. The problem back then is that we did not have a president that wanted to do something about it,” Garza said.
“Now we have President Trump, who is pretty clear that he’s serious about making America First, protecting our country, protecting our borders. So we are very confident that President Trump will actually have some eyes on this TikTok situation and not going to be allowing these cartels to continue to peddle their illegal activities on social media.”
Garza, who is an active Border Patrol agent with 25 years of service, said while hearing that “CartelTok” was taken down was a positive move, he said TikTok and other social media sites can still do more to continue to crack down on these criminals and prevent them from posting videos.
“We think that their next step is going to be that they’re going to continue doing what they do, unless there are some serious reforms to TikTok and how they operate within the United States,” Garza said.
“CartelTok is not the only channel out there that has promoted it and has talked about all of these cartel activities. There’s numerous pages out there that we have been made aware of, anything from child trafficking to human smuggling and just them promoting some other illegal activities that they’re doing on the border,” he continued.
Garza added that another issue is that there are copycats out there who want to mimic what these cartels are posting.
“The problem with these TikTok videos and some of these social media channels that promote human smuggling, child trafficking, and human trafficking is that there are other copycats coming out of this situation. And now we have a sense that involving yourself in illegal activity is something to be proud to be of. And it’s sending the wrong message to our youth, our communities,” Garza said.
Thanks to the Trump administration’s border crackdown, Garza said it’s “pretty clear” that Trump and his team are keeping a close eye on these social media sites.
“We do feel that President Trump will make some positive changes when it comes to TikTok, in case a deal is ever reached between TikTok in the United States, but we do know that these cartels continue to this day to use social media. You know that the popularity is there,” Garza explained.
“And definitely we do hope that President Trump makes it very clear to TikTok that these types of channels must be taken down so that we do not promote illegal activity, especially that we do not promote cartel activity, which they are now terrorists.”
In February, the Trump administration designated several gangs and cartels, such as TdA, MS-13 and the Sinaloa Cartel, as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs).
The eight groups consist of TdA; Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13; the Sinaloa Cartel; New Generation Cartel of Jalisco; United Cartels; Northeast Cartel; Gulf Cartel; and La Nueva Familia Michoacana, or LNFM, many of which go under multiple different names.
The move comes after Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office to direct the State Department and other executive agencies to move to designate cartels and other criminal groups as FTOs.
The order stated that these groups “present an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” and invokes the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEP) to declare a national emergency to “deal with those threats.”
In fiscal 2023, Customs and Border Protection encountered 2,475,669 people attempting entry along the Southwest border – an all-time record representing a 4.07% increase compared to the year before. However, it’s unclear how many migrants or their smugglers used social media to help them along the way.
Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI and Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Stepheny Price is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. She covers topics including missing persons, homicides, national crime cases, illegal immigration, and more. Story tips and ideas can be sent to [email protected]
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