Factcheck.kz investigation uncovered links to a company called SMMNETWORK LLP and media agency Mir Press LLP, which are both well-funded according to the investigation. These media agencies manage and support the Facebook pages of the Foundation of the First President, the Nur Otan Party, and Facebook campaigns against exiled opposition politician Mukhtar Ablyazov. Activity on these Facebook pages is often exclusively created by nurbots. Table 1: Organizational Form and Prevalence of Social Media Manipulation in Kazakhstan Initial Government Politicians & Private Contractors Civil Society Citizens & Report Agencies Parties Organizations Influencers 2013 National Nur Otan Party, SMMNETWORK Zhas Otan Security President LLP, Mir Press LLP, (youth wing of Committee, Nursultan Vision Pro LLP, Nur Otan) Nazerbayev, KazMedia, Institute Karim of Eurasian Masimov Integration Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found. Strategies, Tools, and Techniques Fake accounts It is claimed that nurbots are engaged in “state propaganda, aggravating the situation, [and] distracting attention” (ACCA, 2020a). The nurbots are run by humans, rather than automation, meaning that there are “practically no identical comments” as a “copywriter or a group of copywriters cooperate with bot handlers” (Factcheck, 2019b). They actively comment on Facebook and Instagram, targeting pages such as the page of the Nur Otan Party and the Foundation of the First President. Inorganic comments often blend in with the organic comments of the population, as many commenters on the Nur Otan Party page are not nurbots. However, the majority of comments are inorganic. After analysing dozens of posts on the page for the Foundation of the First President, Factcheck.kz found “only a few comments from live accounts”. The nurbots also fill the comment sections on Kazakh news sites. For example, on a video of one of former Kazakh President Nursultan Nazaerbayev’s public speeches, there were similar comments in support of the president (Kozhanova, 2019). An analysis of these nurbots in The Diplomat suggests that the purpose of the nurbots is to divert attention from crises (e.g. currency issues), strengthen images of success (e.g. praising sports stars) and praising Nazerbayev. Nurbots are increasingly expected to be present in the comments of many websites, and people often reply ‘nurbot’ to those who comment seemingly suspicious praise - to discredit the legitimacy of the comment (Kozhanova, 2019). Nurbots engage with the opposition party Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan (DCK). A dedicated Facebook page, ‘Sushi Bolota’ (Drain the Swamp) targets the DCK and its exiled leader Mukhtar Ablyazov. An example of an anti-Ablyazov page can be seen in figure 1. There is evidence of trolling, as nurbots often attack and insult people online (Factcheck, 2019b). 222