Ethiopia Introduction The Ethiopian Government maintains a repressive regime over Ethiopian political space, freedom of expression and marginalized ethnic minorities. Corruption, protest crackdowns and human rights abuses mark Ethiopia’s recent political history. In May 2015, the ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), won 100% of parliamentary seats and proceeded to crack down on opposition political parties, journalists and peaceful protestors. Following the elections and carrying through 2016, protests took place in the Oromia and Amhara regions. State forces used fatal methods against the demonstrations, killing hundreds of protestors (Freedom House, 2019a). With the inauguration of new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali in Spring 2018 (the old Minister had resigned over the 2015/16 unrests in the country), there were developments that raised hopes for a more democratic future in Ethiopia, such as a law giving new freedoms to NGOs. Moreover, the EPRDF went through some major reorganization moving towards a more panEthiopian, rather than ethnic-based party (dominated by the Oromo ethnic group). In light of the next parliamentary election to be held in 2020, electoral law was also reformed, allowing for more freedom of expression and a multiparty election (Freedom House, 2019a). However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the parliamentary elections, which were set to take place in August 2020, have been postponed indefinitely. There has been public outcry over this decision, accusing the current government of using COVID-19 as an excuse to avoid democracy (Davies, 2020; Reuters, 2020). According to the most recent Freedom House report on Ethiopia, the country’s Internet penetration rate is 18.62% (of a population of over 102 million in 2017), making it one of the countries with the least internet-connectivity in the world. The country’s telecommunications infrastructure is underdeveloped and the prices for Internet access are high. Internet access is controlled by state-owned Ethio Telecom which also holds a monopoly over SIM cards, which citizens must register for. Since the 2016 protests the government has announced plans to require that mobile phones be purchased from Ethiopian companies which are also complemented by a tracking system for all mobiles (Chala, 2016; Freedom House, 2019b; Human Rights Watch, 2014). Although there have been indications that the government is willing to dissolve the monopoly of the telecommunication sector by selling large holdings of Ethio Telecom (Endeshaw, 2020). An Overview of Cyber Troop Activity in Ethiopia Organizational Form While there are some reports of paid social media influencers (Chala, 2018), for the most part, and similar to other repressive, autocratic regimes, the Ethiopian government has used its legal powers to control the flow of information and slowly chip away at narratives that critique or compete for attention. In October 2016, the former government declared a state of emergency in the aftermath of the destruction of government buildings and private property by protesters. This state of emergency introduced further restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, including lockdowns on digital communication (Chala, 2016), association, and peaceful assembly, and legitimized the government’s controls of information. The state of emergency lasted 10 months from October 2016 to August 2017, a period marked by mass arrests and restrictions on independent media and social media (Freedom House, 2019a). A second state of emergency lasted for four months starting in February 2018 (Freedom House, 2019b). It 135