Bogota, Colombia - The UN says Colombia's rebel groups are using apps like Facebook and Tik Tok to recruit children and young people, while social media companies must do more to moderately schedule content.

Scott Campbell, the top UN human rights official, said in an interview with the Associated Press that more investment is needed in automation tools and human hosts to remove videos posted by gangs and rebel groups targeting youth in marginalized communities.

Colombian rebel groups such as FARC-EMC are increasingly posting videos that charm their lives and urge youth to enlist.

“These companies are not investing enough resources into online content reviews in the global South,” Campbell said. Colombia said that Colombia’s threat to children and indigenous communities could be “serious.” He said companies have taken greater action in the global north, where they feel the greatest political pressure.

Campbell, who previously worked as a human rights and technology expert at the UN office in Geneva, recently met with representatives from Facebook-owned Meta to discuss how to stop rebel groups and gangs from using the company's platform to recruit young people.

He said the company promised to resolve the issue and was seeking a meeting with Tiktok representatives. Tik Tok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mehta said in an email that the company has a policy that prohibits terrorist groups from using their platform and is working with law enforcement to fight efforts to recruit children.

“We also work with other companies to share information and take action toward these evolving threats,” Mehta said.

In rural Colombia, recruitment of children has become a major issue raised by military, drug gangs and rebel groups.

According to Colombia's Human Rights Ombudsman, 409 children under the age of 18 were recruited as rebel groups last year in South American countries, twice as many as in 2023.

The United Nations recorded 216 cases of forced recruitment of minors in Colombia last year.

In the southwestern Caucasus, this issue is particularly striking, as rebel groups try to fill the power vacuum left by the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, an intensified battle, which was a guerrilla squadron that established peace with the government in 2016.

Anyi Zapata, a human rights expert at the Gurga Indigenous Society Acin, said the rebel groups there have long targeted vulnerable children, providing them with money to make small gifts and gifts, such as cell phones.

Now, they are posting videos on social media to show members a motorcycle, SUV and adventure lifestyle. A Tiktok account recently had a video of a man riding a motorcycle wearing a disguise with the caption: "Join me and you will know about friendship without hypocrisy."

These images usually show the logo of the rebel group.

Even if the accounts are deleted, they can be replaced by others. He said social media companies need to share information about such accounts with Columbia prosecutors, who can file charges against those who post the content.

"It's hard to balance free speech and legitimate speech while removing content that is obviously illegal and can cause harm," Campbell said.