2019 GLOBAL INVENTORY OF ORGANISED SOCIAL MEDIA MANIPULATION Strategies, Tools, and Techniques Although there is nothing necessarily new about propaganda, the affordances of social networking technologies – algorithms, automation, and big data – change the scale, scope, and precision of how information is transmitted in the digital age. Account Types Fake accounts are used by cyber troops to spread computational propaganda. Over the past three years we have tracked the prevalence of three types of fake accounts: bot, human, and cyborg. Bots are highly automated accounts designed to mimic human behaviour online. They are often used to amplify narratives or drown out political dissent. We found evidence of bot accounts being used in 50 of the 70 countries. However, even more common than bots are human-run accounts, which do not make use of automation. Instead they engage in conversations by posting comments or tweets, or by private messaging individuals via social media platforms. Humanoperated accounts were found in 60 out of the 70 countries in this year’s report. Cyborg accounts, which blend automation with human curation, are another account type we identified. This year, we have added hacked or stolen accounts to our typology of fake accounts. Although these accounts are not ‘fake’ per se, high profile accounts are strategically used by cyber troops in order to spread pro-government propaganda or to censor freedom of speech by revoking access to the 87% of countries used Human accounts 80% of countries used account by its rightful owner. A small number of state actors have begun using stolen or hacked accounts as part of their campaigns, highlighting the interconnectivity of computational propaganda with more traditional forms of cyber-attacks. Finally, it is important to note that not all accounts used in cyber troop activities are fake. In some countries, like Vietnam or Tajikistan, state actors encourage cyber troops to use their real accounts to spread pro-government propaganda, troll political Bot accounts dissidents, or mass-report content. As social media companies 11% of countries used with cyber troop activity, the co-option of real accounts could become more aggressive in taking down accounts associated become a more prominent strategy. Cyborg accounts 7% of countries used Hacked or Stolen accounts [ 11 ]