on migrants, and link to articles at ViralMagazine.it and FanMagazine.it (Padovese & McDonald, 2020). These pages often post content favourable to Salvini and his agenda. Table 2: Observed Strategies, Tools and Techniques of Social Media Manipulation in Italy Account Types Messaging and Valence Content and Platforms Communication Strategies Bots, Human, Fake and Real Distracting messages, Driving Disinformation, Amplifying Facebook, divisions and polarization, content Instagram, Twitter Pro-government, Attacks on opposition Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found. Organizational Capacity and Resources There is not much evidence on resources spent by Lega Nord or Movimento 5 Stelle on propaganda operations. However, it is important to note that most activities are primarily associated with critical events, such as general and European elections. As regards the companies behind some of the identified networks of disinformation websites, WIRED highlights that the website MeteoWeek— managed by Planet Share but with connections with Web365— offered €200 for web content editors, whose main responsibility was to write original articles of at least 380 words (Fontana, 2020). Table 3: Cyber Troop Capacity in Italy Team Size Resources Spent Activity Levels Coordination (USD) Temporary (mostly during elections) Capacity Measure Low Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found. References Bayer, J., Bitiukova, N., Bárd, P., Szakács, J., Alemanno, A., & Uszkiewicz, E. (2019, febrero). Disinformation and propaganda – impact on the functioning of the rule of law in the EU and its Member States. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=IPOL_STU(2019 )608864 Carrer, G., & Bechis, F. (2020, March 30). Così la Cina fa propaganda in Italia, con i bot. Ecco l’analisi su Twitter di Alkemy per Formiche. Formiche.net. https://formiche.net/2020/03/cina-propaganda-twitter-bot-alkemy/ DFRLab. (2018, January 25). #ElectionWatch: Italy’s Self-Made Bots. DFRLab. https://medium.com/dfrlab/electionwatch-italys-self-made-bots-200e2e268d0e DFRLab. (2020). China exploits Italian coronavirus outbreak to expand its influence. Medium. https://medium.com/dfrlab/china-exploits-italian-coronavirus-outbreak-toexpand-its-influence-967a6998fea3 Ebner, J., & Davey, J. (2018). Mainstreaming Mussolini. How the Extreme Right Attempted to “Make Italy Great Again” in the 2018 Italian Election. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. 219