Several strands of literature on social engagement, digital media and big data conceive digital platforms as a shortcut to government accountability and citizen empowerment. According to these visions, social media and the new possibilities offered by the analysis of big data represent the solution to the issues of contemporary democracies. Based on a critical analysis of various social and political phenomena of contemporary Mexico, this article demonstrates that diverse political parties and governments have successfully used new forms of algorithmic repression to manufacture consent, sabotage dissent, threaten and monitor activists and obtain citizens’ personal data. This paper argues that these new strategies clearly show the limitations of digital platforms —and of social media in particular— for democratic participation, as activists have to fight against refined techniques of control and oppression that efficiently adopt and manipulate new communi-cation technologies. In the conclusions, the article discusses broader considerations about the limits and the benefits of the new forms of algorithmic resistance in the current technopolitical scenario, proposing a technoambivalent approach to digital technologies.