Published: February 24, 2026 | Outlet: Grupo Milenio
Context
Two days after the military operation in which Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, was killed, Grupo Milenio published an analysis of the parallel war that had unfolded online. My work tracking fake accounts and bots was cited as a central reference.
What Milenio Reported About My Findings
The Milenio report documented how, while CJNG armed groups burned vehicles and blocked highways across 20 states, a parallel disinformation front was unfolding on social media. My analysis was cited to explain the propagation mechanism: coordinated accounts mixed real images with AI-generated content to amplify fear.
Milenio highlighted how I traced the origin of false messages and exposed their replication chain — a process I had previously applied to document the “Peñabots” and other coordinated influence operations in Mexico.
Why This Coverage Matters
Milenio was one of the first major national outlets to frame the CJNG disinformation as a structured operation — not spontaneous chaos. This distinction is central to my work: organized crime does not improvise on social media. It operates with troll centers and propaganda strategies comparable to state actors.