presidency, was also one of the names identified as being behind the accounts removed by Facebook. Table 1: Organizational Form and Prevalence of Social Media Manipulation in Ecuador Initial Government Politicians & Private Civil Society Citizens & Report Agencies Parties Contractors Organizations Influencers 2013 National Evidence Emerging MC de Communications found México SA de Secretariat CV, Illuminati and Ministry of Lab, Ximah Communication Digital SA, Eye (between 2013 and Watch, 2017) Inteligencia No evidence since Emociona, and 2017. Kronopio (between 2013 and 2017) Estraterra Source: Authors’ evaluations based on data collected. Blank spaces indicate no evidence was found. Strategies, Tools, and Techniques The businesses hired by the President Correa administration used fake accounts to voice support for Correa and attack his opponents (Alpert, 2018). Fernando Balda, a deputy from the opposition party Sociedade Patriótica, has also accused Correa’s government of setting up a troll centre in order to harass journalists and critics of the government through false accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. Such accusations were corroborated by Diario El Comercio, a newspaper established over one hundred years ago (Lara-Dillon, 2012). On the other hand, political opponents of former President Rafael Correa have also employed defamatory social media campaigns (Digital Guarimbas, 2017). The leaked documents related to publicist Kenneth Godwin—and the political propaganda operations—revealed a budget for operating propaganda accounts on social media and a proposal to handle social media campaigns attacking opposition leaders like ex- Secretary for Communications Mónica Chuji, local press watchdog Fundamedios, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression Catalina Botero, among others (Ecuador Transparente, 2016). Content takedowns were also used as a strategy to curb political discourse. A study by Fundamedios revealed that, between April and July 2016, approximately thirty Twitter accounts linked to anti-government users with high numbers of followers were suspended after receiving repeated complaints (Freedom House, 2017b). In the lead-up to the 2017 presidential elections, Freedom House reported that social media accounts belonging to politicians, journalists and opposition activists were hacked and used to disseminate messages against the opposition’s vice-presidential candidate Andrés Paez (Freedom House, 2017b; Puente, 2017). Disinformation was used as a campaign tool by both major parties to support their position as well as undermine the opposition. One prominent 118