foster hatred towards minorities was found to have received about 1.3 Million HRK (~$202,000) from the ministry. Both websites applied for funds through the ESF Operational Programme for Effective Human Resources 2014-2020 (Ćimić, 2020; Mediji Zajednice - Potpora Socijalnom Uključivanju Putem Medija, Faza I., 2020). This move was particularly ironic considering that in early 2019, Croatia had officially joined the EU fight against fake news in the context of the 2019 EU parliamentary elections (Total Croatia News, 2019). In general, though, while media is highly polarized, they are free from direct political inference or manipulation (Freedom House, 2019), although a recent report has noted that Croatian legislation to protect media and journalists from political influence are highly ineffective and found political motivation in the appointments and dismissals of editorial staff (Bilic, 2020). Table 1: Organizational Form and Prevalence of Social Media Manipulation in Croatia Initial Government Politicians Private Contractors Civil Society Citizens & Report Agencies & Parties Organizations Influencers Evidence found – Evidence funding websites found Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found. Strategies, Tools, and Techniques As one of the leading distributors of disinformation in Croatia, the internet portal Dnevno shares anything from conspiracies about German chancellor Merkel trying to steal Croatia’s sovereignty to anti-EU, anti-refugee and Islamophobic narratives, generally promoting nationalism and hatred (Vidov, 2019). With their slogan of ‘we write what others hide’ the portal has spent the past years driving divisions amongst different ethno-nationalist groups. In 2017 a new management took over the site, vowing to take it to the center-right of the political spectrum and to ‘write the truth’. However, especially in Croatia, the portal of Dnevno still works with conspiracies and clickbait headlines (Milat, 2019). Meanwhile, many politicians are active on social media themselves and do not shy away from making contributions to ongoing issues. For example, in the spring of 2020 the Croatian factchecker Faktograf received critique from politicians as well as private individuals, quickly degenerating into accusations of censorship, for teaming up with Facebook to weed out misinformation on the platform (Vladisavljevic, 2020b). With the upcoming parliamentary election less than a week away, campaigning is currently in full swing. Most parties have active and visible campaigns, and while partisan narratives, fake news and nationalist rhetoric are on the forefront (Vukobratovic, 2020), there is little to no reporting of any more sophisticated, data-driven campaigning techniques being employed. Rather, the recent Coronavirus pandemic seems to be dominating the elections (Vukobratovic, 2020). Table 2: Observed Strategies, Tools and Techniques of Social Media Manipulation in Croatia Account Types Messaging and Valence Content and Platforms Communication Strategies Human 105 Support Attacking opposition Driving Divisions Disinformation Facebook