Nigeria Enters The Age Of Deepfake Blackmail
By Akin Ibitoye
The internet doesn’t need truth. It only needs a file. In the past month, Nigerian investigators have traced multiple AI-manipulated sexual videos being shared through Telegram, Twitter and WhatsApp, some timed to coincide with legal disputes and political transitions, and others targeting regular citizens by manipulating images and videos to ridicule them like was done to a young lady, Rebecca, last week.
While most stay hidden in private chats, two incidents, already being looked into by Nigerian and international law enforcement, are believed to involve in one case, a Lagos-based business leader and the other, a prominent Northern figure. Information reaching analysts confirm a cross-border cyber-extortion investigation is underway with local based collaborators providing content to be edited by foreign contacts and pushed to the unsuspecting Nigerian public. “It’s no longer just tech. It’s psychological warfare,” said a Lagos-based expert.
Just last week, a young girl was targeted by an individual claiming she was his girlfriend by editing her pictures with AI to show him kissing her. Only just today, June 30, 2025, a Twitter space with former presidential candidate, Peter Obi, had members of the space voice out their plans to use ai to create deepfakes as electioneering season beckons. With deepfake apps and synthetic voice generators now freely available, the line between reality and revenge is vanishing fast.
Nigeria’s regulators must act fast to protect citizens and law enforcement must be provided support to enforce necessary laws to protect Nigerians from the misuse of these ai platforms.
Akin Ibitoye is a Digital Risk Analyst
