When Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader known as “El Mencho,” was killed, people in Mexico turned to their phones for information as explosions, gunshots and other violence erupted after roadblocks and clashes began. In Guadalajara, streets that had been chaotic later calmed, but residents said the first wave of online content left them struggling to tell what was happening from what was being posted.
Victoria Elizabeth Peceril, 31, described being out walking with her three children when violence broke out and saying she and others did not know what reports online were true or false. “We didn’t know what was true and what was false,” she said, adding that they were “really scared.”
Officials said that beyond real accounts of death and destruction and warnings from governments to stay in place, social media platforms were also flooded with disinformation. Mexican officials said that many of the misleading items were fake videos and images created using artificial intelligence and designed to increase panic, rather than inform the public.
The Mexican government said there were between 200 and 500 troublesome and inaccurate posts circulating since the army operation began, including as many as 30 posts that received more than 100,000 views. During Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily news briefing, the government presented data compiled by Tecnologico de Monterrey, a private university, reporting that 35% to 40% of the posts lacked context, at least 25% were misleading, and nearly 25% were manipulated by AI or fabricated. The university report did not identify who was producing the content.
Among the false claims spread online, one post purported to show a commercial plane on fire at Guadalajara’s international airport and messages circulated saying gunmen had seized the airport and tourists were taken hostage. Other posts falsely claimed that the president was hiding on a naval vessel off Mexico’s Pacific coast, according to the university’s report. The report also cited other narratives, including claims that a U.S. agent had strangled Oseguera Cervantes and speculation that Mexico killed the cartel leader rather than turning him over to the United States, as well as attempts to link his killing to former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the report said.
Sheinbaum said in a separate comment that there was “a lot of badly intentioned news Sunday, looking to generate terror,” describing the information environment during the initial period after the operation.
In interviews, residents said some content looked convincing at first, in part because organized crime is widely documented for spectacular violence. Nicolás Martín, 28, said he had been staying at a resort near Puerto Vallarta when violence began and that early online posts resembled “what you see in movies.” He said that he was surprised by the quality of some circulated material, including what appeared to be drone footage, and noted that in the early moments of chaos, he expected images to be less steady and more haphazard.
Sarai Olguín, 22, said it was difficult to separate fact from fiction even after Mexican authorities and the U.S. Embassy tried to reduce false information circulating Sunday. She said friends sent her videos and photos that she and other residents then used while hiding inside their homes, and she credited the posts in part with helping keep people off the streets. Olguín said one post warned that “after a certain hour they were going to kill everyone,” and she added, “In a way it’s good, because all of this false news helped take care of people even though they sowed immense fear.”
Vanda Felbab-Brown, an expert in organized crime at the Brookings Institution, said it was possible people tied to the Jalisco cartel were behind at least some of the disinformation. She said criminals are becoming “very tech-savvy,” and she described the level of misinformation during the episode as “impressive.” Felbab-Brown said posts depicting the cartel taking over the Guadalajara airport looked “impressive and sophisticated,” and she said such content is likely generated by AI from chatbots controlled by the Jalisco New Generation cartel. She said the posts “certainly added to the aura of chaos and meltdown in Mexico,” while residents grappled with how to respond as authorities urged them to shelter and wait for verified information.