Table 1: Organizational Form and Prevalence of Social Media Manipulation in Costa Rica Initial Government Politicians & Private Contractors Civil Society Citizens & Report Agencies Parties Organizations Influencers 2014 National Integration Party (PIN); National Restauration Party (PRN); New Republic (NR) Opol Consultores Evidence Found Evidence (elmundo.cr); ADD Found Integral Solution; Tecnologías SMS del Este; Grupo Comunicaciones OBS; Soluciones Digitales; OW Marketing Agency Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found. Strategies, Tools, and Techniques Cyber troops in Costa Rica have relied on different tools and tactics to manipulate public discussions about politics online. As seen by the examples above, politicians or individuals associated with them have not been shy about publishing false claims or conspiracy theories on their own social media platforms, as part of their political communication strategies and to mobilize their supporter base. On other occasions they have used questionable private news outlets to give an impression of independence and credibility. The digital media sources, which have been publicly accused of lacking independence and which have frequently mixed real with fabricated news, have included, but are not limited to, Diario La Carta, Noti Costa Rica, Noti Goico, Noticias Pococí, El Mundo Costa Rica, El Cantor Político, Guana Noticias, and El Guardián. Political activists or individuals have also disseminated false news that have pretended to be from the BBC or the local press via personal Facebook accounts, anonymous Facebook groups and WhatsApp. Sometimes the mainstream media picks up such news or politicians piggyback on false information generated by civil society groups or individuals sharing it with their followers.22 Costa Rican legislators employ parliamentary advisors to manage their digital communications. Digital communications have included exaggeration or other forms of misleading imagery to support their agendas. For example, using pictures of automatic and semiautomatic rifles, Carolina Hidalgo, then President of Costa Rica’s legislature from the PAC, tweeted misleading information in February 2019 about a motion adopted in the Legislative Assembly’s Public Security Committee modifying proposed government reforms of the country’s high caliber weapons regulation (Chinchilla, 2019). The image and tweet gave the impression that carrying automatic weapons would no longer be prohibited in Costa Rica after the adoption of the motion, a development that she opposed. However, the possession of automatic rifles remains prohibited. Protecting the status quo, the parliamentary committee instead rejected the incorporation of new legal prohibitions related to the possession of semiautomatic rifles which is allowed under current legislation (Mora, 2019). Fake accounts and false followers have been detected on occasion, but most accounts are human rather than automated. One expert interviewed by the researcher said: “There are always humans behind the trolls, there is very little automation in Costa Rica. So far the problem is “handmade” and there is much room to systemize.”23 90