A network of TikTok accounts utilizing coded emojis, faction nicknames, and narco ballads are advertising the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) in an apparent attempt to recruit new members for one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations, according to a report released this week by social-media analysis firm Graphika.

The 14-page report reviewed 100 publicly visible TikTok accounts between April 5 and April 15. Researchers said the accounts almost never named CJNG outright, instead relying on partial cues to convey identity while evading platform moderators. The suspected cues include the abbreviation “NG,” the numeral “4,” the phrase “4 letras” (“four letters”), and rooster imagery linked to the cartel’s late leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” according to the report. 

“The accounts are likely conveying support for CJNG by consistently using certain abbreviations, visual symbols, and audio signifiers without explicitly naming the cartel,” Graphika wrote, cautioning that its sample does not establish that the accounts are formally operated by cartel members. The U.S. State Department links CJNG to fentanyl trafficking, extortion, human trafficking, and arms dealing.

The strongest identifiers are visual, Graphika said. Accounts repeatedly featured camouflage, plate carriers, balaclavas, helmets and goggles, skulls, skeletons and Santa Muerte iconography, and a four-finger hand sign almost certainly used to signal CJNG affiliation. Convoys of trucks moving through rural terrain at night recurred across the sample, projecting “themes of mobility, territorial presence, and operational identity,” Graphika said. 

Female-presenting accounts displayed similar tactical imagery alongside more conventional lifestyle and selfie content, which the researchers said likely “helps expand CJNG appeal beyond an audience that responds mainly to a combat-ready aesthetic.”

Coded text was layered into bios, captions and overlays: “FEM” for Fuerzas Especiales Mencho (Mencho’s Special Forces), “Grupo Élite,” “comando,” “delta,” and rank-style codes such as “R03,” “R35,” and “R39.” Loyalty slogans—”firmes” (steady), “a la orden” (at your service), “hasta la muerte” (until death)—appeared across profiles, reinforcing what Graphika called “themes of obedience, permanence, and group belonging.”

The accounts also utilize narcocorridos, a type of Mexican ballad that glorifies drug trafficking and cartel culture, according to the report. Posts repeatedly used the same audio tracks, particularly songs by the artist El Pitbull LDK, which Graphika said helps TikTok’s algorithm cluster the content together and drive mutual discovery without any explicit coordination among accounts. Lyrics referencing “4 letras” and “Mencho” reinforced the cartel’s narrative of loyalty, retaliation and status.

Some posts were framed as job listings. Graphika identified phrases such as “se busca personal” (staff wanted), “jale” (work) and “ocupo gente” (I need people), alongside compensation references including “$10,000 semanales” (weekly) and “pago quincenal” (biweekly pay). Calls to action pushed interested users off the public timeline and into direct messages while recruitment posts often named specific Mexican states and cities, including Jalisco and Guadalajara. 

That process aligns with research by RAND and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on Graphika’s findings. The two think tanks have previously said that extremist and criminal groups tend to use mainstream platforms to attract potential members before moving them to less-moderated venues such as WhatsApp groups, where recruits may be directly offered food, housing, or training.

Mexican authorities last year shut down roughly 200 social-media accounts tied to organized-crime recruitment, Bloomberg said.