Cyber-Militia and Digital Coercion: Online Targeting and Militarised Communication in Burkina Faso

This article examines the emergence of coordinated pro-regime digital networks in Burkina Faso through the concept of “cyber-militia.” Drawing on a comparative qualitative analysis of 468 Facebook entries collected across three online targeting campaigns, the study explores how actors associated with the Brigade d’intervention rapide de la communication (BIR-C) use digital platforms to amplify hostile narratives, intimidate critics, and delegitimise individuals and organisations perceived as threats to the military regime. Combining qualitative content analysis and process tracing, the article identifies three operational logics of cyber-militia communication: escalation and intimidation, persistence and reputational delegitimisation, and institutional delegitimisation. The findings suggest that cyber-militias function as hybrid formations situated at the intersection of propaganda, participatory digital culture, and coercive state power. The article contributes to scholarship on digital media and conflict by proposing cyber-militia as a new analytical framework for understanding coordinated forms of participatory digital coercion in contemporary conflict environments.