Digital Shadows: How terror groups in Nigeria and the Sahel leverage social media, AI, and drones

In April, the Islamic State’s West Africa Province (ISWAP) - an offshoot of Boko Haram and an affiliate of the Islamic State in parts of Nigeria and the Sahel - deployed four armed drones carrying grenades in an attempted attack on a military base in Borno, northeast Nigeria. This was the first time the proscribed group was using drones for direct attacks, a step-up from surveillance and reconnaissance cases.

This incident was an indicator that terrorist organizations operating in sub-Saharan Africa are increasingly integrating digital technologies, social media platforms, and even artificial intelligence (AI) into their operational strategies and propaganda efforts. 

This technological adaptation presents significant challenges for counterterrorism in regions like the Lake Chad Basin, impacting countries including Nigeria where ISWAP and the Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP) have intensified their presence in cyberspace to continue their ideological struggle and coordinate activities. 

Social Media as a battlefield and recruitment tool

One of the crucial digital tools that these groups are exploiting is social media enabling them to spread radical ideologies and recruit. Platforms like Telegram and TikTok are favored due to their often more lenient moderation policies compared to platforms like Facebook and X, according to HumAngle. ISWAP, for example, extensively uses Telegram and WhatsApp for propaganda, surveillance and communication. 

Their media teams leverage these platforms to portray ISWAP as a successful jihadist entity, aiming to boost recruitment and enhance their global standing within the Islamic State network. The ability to quickly share content from the battlefield, sometimes just hours after attacks, is facilitated by equipping dedicated vehicles with mobile internet services.

A tactic used online to evade detection is the employment of coded language, including emojis, allowing groups to discuss plans publicly while remaining hidden in plain sight. Aliyu Dahiru, HumAngle’s radicalism and extremism reporter, noted that understanding these subtleties requires extensive monitoring and contextual analysis. He also pointed out that much of the communication is not in standard Arabic but in dialects, making automated moderation tools less effective. Despite efforts by social media companies to remove extremist content, these groups show resilience, frequently creating new accounts. Evasion tactics on platforms like TikTok include using slightly altered usernames, making accounts temporarily private, restricting comments on sensitive videos, and using alternative spellings for banned hashtags.

The emerging threat of AI exploitation

A significant and growing concern is the exploitation of generative AI by terrorist groups and their supporters. Generative AI can create new content like text, images, audio, and video, offering advantages for malicious purposes such as interactive recruitment, developing propaganda and influencing behavior via social media. AI can make propaganda more widespread, efficient and tailored to target audiences. A report from the African Union on Peace and Security noted that terrorist groups are early adopters of emerging technologies, and AI is no exception.

Following a deadly attack in March 2024 in Moscow, an IS supporter circulated AI-generated video news bulletins about the group's global operations within pro-IS communication channels. These broadcasts, featuring realistic AI-generated characters mimicking news broadcasters, read dispatches sourced from official IS mouthpieces like Amaq Agency. 

Other AI-generated news broadcasts covered IS operations in the Middle East and Africa. This marked a pivotal shift, stimulating interest among IS supporter networks, particularly Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP), which operates in regions including Africa via ISSP, in integrating AI into media creation. The strategic aim of these AI-generated news broadcasts is to bypass platform moderation and to push AI-driven content to reach broader audiences on networks such as X and Facebook, including using fake accounts that mimic legitimate profiles. 

This strategy also deploys disinformation by creating an impression that the accounts are "independent news outlets" using branding resembling mainstream networks like CNN and Al Jazeera, according to a news report by Homeland Security Today. Propagandists advocate for using free AI tools and share guides on content creation and AI translators. Experts anticipate IS's use of AI could expand beyond media to hacking operations and potentially the development of autonomous weapons systems.

Using cryptocurrencies to finance terror  

Technology also plays a role in terrorist financing. ISWAP and ISSP rely on diverse methods, including modern cryptocurrency and traditional hawala networks. They generate millions through extortion, kidnapping, and exploiting zakat, such as imposing taxes on fishermen and cattle in their territory in the Lake Chad Basin.

Cryptocurrencies like Monero, known for features designed to make transactions untraceable, are becoming more popular. Nigeria's large cryptocurrency market, second only to India globally with an estimated one-third of its population using crypto, creates a massive pool of funds that makes tracking terrorist transactions difficult. Hawala networks also facilitate cross-border money movement and transfers between IS branches without traditional banks. 

Nigerian authorities are attempting to tighten controls over both cryptocurrencies and informal financial networks. The central bank banned cryptocurrency transactions by financial institutions in 2021 (though it later removed the ban in 2024), but most transactions occur outside conventional banking. Controlling informal hawala networks is difficult, and Nigeria is trying to use licensing guidelines to push transactions through banks. The informal nature of hawala and the decentralized nature of crypto pose significant challenges. Dismantling these networks requires joint efforts from the affected Lake Chad Basin countries, including Nigeria, and beyond, as the group's operations extend regionally. 

“Curbing terrorism financing isn’t easy,” Malik Samuel, a researcher for the Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote in an analysis of IS finances in West Africa. “That requires identifying and eliminating revenue sources through incentivizing community participation, raising awareness of the dangers of working with ISWAP, and providing employment to prevent civilians from seeking alternative livelihoods from the terror group.”

To effectively combat the misuse of technology, collaboration is needed among policymakers, law enforcement, civil society and technology companies. This involves enhancing regulatory frameworks, fostering international cooperation, and investing in AI detection tools. Social media platforms must improve moderation, addressing language gaps and understanding how extremists use platform features and coded references. Transparency in moderation processes is also crucial. As groups refine AI for propaganda, the challenge for takedown operations increases, requiring rapid, collaborative responses. Curtailing ISWAP's access to technology, disrupting supply lines, and preventing collaboration are vital steps.

The increasing sophistication of digital tactics highlights the critical need for continuous vigilance, adaptability and robust international and multi-stakeholder cooperation to address this evolving threat.