known to use automation, trolling and disinformation techniques. These IT cells have existed since the early days of social media—the BJP’s IT cell was founded in 2007 (Dasgupta, 2018). Political parties in India have also been known to work with private firms. Cambridge Analytica “worked extensively in India” according to whistle-blower Christopher Wylie (Crabtree, 2018). The Indian IT firm Silver Touch was responsible for building Modi’s NaMo app, and was linked to fake Facebook accounts (Gleicher, 2019). Influencers on social media platforms are increasingly used to amplify political messages organically to a wider audience. For example, Delhi marketing firm OMLogic Consulting has worked for both the BJP and INC to utilize the power of YouTube and Instagram influencers (Chaturvedi, 2019). Cyber troop activity in India is predominantly of domestic origin. The deliberate spread of disinformation by politicians and political parties has often led to misinformation due to hyperconnectivity and digital illiteracy. However, there have also been foreign interference attempts attributed to Pakistan through a network of fake accounts and Facebook pages about issues to do with India’s general election (Kalra & Sayeed, 2019). Following the Kashmir attack, individuals linked to the Pakistan Army used Facebook and Instagram accounts to inflame tensions with India and push claims over Kashmir (@DFRLab, 2019). In response, the defence ministry reportedly approved a new Information Warfare branch in the army, to combat misinformation, propaganda, and psychological operations (Gurung, 2019). This announcement came in March 2019, directly following the wave of propaganda following the Balakot air strikes by the Indian Air Force in February 2019. As well as the BJP campaigning in India, the ‘Overseas Friends of the BJP (UK)’ (OFBJP) said it was campaigning for the Conservative Party in the UK’s 2019 general election. They targeted Conservative candidates in forty-eight marginal seats, and it was reported that messages were circulating on WhatsApp groups among British Hindus urging them to vote against the Labour Party (Siddique, 2019). Table 1: Organizational Form and Prevalence of Social Media Manipulation in India Initial Government Politicians Private Contractors Civil Society Citizens & Report Agencies & Parties Organizations Influencers 2007 Indian BJP, INC Cambridge Evidence Army’s Analytica, Silver Found Information Touch, OMLogic Warfare Consulting, The branch Ideaz Factory, Infocrunch Analytics Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found. Strategies, Tools, and Techniques Disinformation Disinformation is prolific in India partly because originates from mainstream media, politicians, and as part of official election strategies. Economic Times and India Today, the latter of which even has its own fact-checking project, published—both in print and in a video—a photo that allegedly showed the February terrorist attacker in a combat uniform; however, in reality it originated from an unknown source on Twitter and was determined as fake (Funke & Benkelman, 2019). BOOM claim that political parties have “begun building teams for the 178