The Federal Government has intensified its crackdown on digital terrorism, revealing a robust collaboration with global social media giants to identify and deactivate accounts used by insurgent groups for propaganda and fundraising.
Speaking at an end-of-year briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, the Director-General of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Maj.-Gen. Adamu Laka, disclosed that the center has held high-level engagements with platforms including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and X (formerly Twitter).
Neutralizing Digital Safe Havens
According to Maj.-Gen. Laka, these platforms have frequently been exploited by terrorists to publicize attacks, flaunt looted items, and maintain communication with a network of supporters. He noted that the center’s intervention has already led to the removal of a significant number of these accounts.
“If you knew how many accounts we took down,” Laka said. “There was a time when bandits would go on TikTok showing their loot. We took those accounts down—you don’t see that again. At some point, they were even doing live streams, but we’ve been able to handle all that.”
Balancing Business and Security
The NCTC boss acknowledged that while social media companies are primarily profit-driven businesses focused on subscriber growth, they have been receptive to the government’s security concerns.
“We engage them, explain the effects of certain posts on national security, and we take them down,” Laka added.
Evolving Tactics
Despite these successes, security agencies remain on high alert as criminal groups adapt their methods. The NCTC reported that terrorists are increasingly using aliases to mask their true identities, unverified accounts to bypass standard filters, Point of Sale (PoS) terminals to facilitate ransom payments and obscure financial trails.
Maj.-Gen. Laka emphasized that the nation’s security apparatus is “constantly adapting” to counter these evolving threats, ensuring that the digital space remains hostile to criminal elements.
