GHANA Introduction According to Freedom House, Ghana is a ’Free’ democracy that has been holding peaceful competitive elections since 1992. There are two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), which is currently in power, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the main opposition. For the most part civil liberties and personal freedoms are protected in Ghana, though discrimination, weaknesses in judicial independence, and political corruption remain issues (Freedom House, 2019). Moreover, minority members in Ghana’s parliament are expressing concerns about the state of democracy in Ghana, citing accusations that the government is ignoring interference in the activities of the Electoral Commission (Graphic Online, 2020). Press and media freedoms are enshrined in Ghana’s constitution, and Ghana has a diverse and vibrant media landscape. Nevertheless, the government does occasionally restrict media freedom by harassing and arresting journalists. For example, Freedom House notes that “in June 2019, personnel from the Ministry of National Security arrested two journalists from the news website ModernGhana.com in connection with an article on the minister; the reporters were allegedly tortured during interrogation and released within two days.” Moreover, an NPP member of Parliament had publicly encouraged violence against journalists (Freedom House, 2020; Freedom House, 2019). In addition, online fake news and election interference are a concern in Ghana. The Ghanaian Electoral Commission has announced that it will build a media monitoring team to identify disinformation ahead of the 2020 elections that will be held on 7th December (Ngnenbe, 2019). Social media are popular in Ghana. Nearly 70% of Ghanaian citizens use WhatsApp and/or Facebook (Gadjanova et al., 2019) and social media are becoming an increasingly common source for news. At the same time social media are increasingly being used to spread fake disinformation (MyJoyOnline.Com, 2020). An Overview of Cyber Troop Activity Ghana Organizational Form Compared with other countries with case studies cited in the Cyber Troops Report, the Ghanaian government does not engage in cyber troop activity to the same extent. Instead, the Ghanian police often attempt to try and control information flows in a more direct manner. There are cases in which journalists have been arrested on spurious grounds, and in 2016 the Inspector General of the Ghanaian police raised the possibility of shutting down all social media in Ghana during election day. Officially, this was set out as a means of ensuring a peaceful election, but both domestic and international reactions were very critical as shutting down social media would have seriously limited online political discourse. In response to criticism the police assured that access to social media would not be limited (Graphic Online, 2016). In Ghana various political institutions, organisations, and actors have sought to use social media to their benefit. The Ghanaian Electoral Commission has used social media to disseminate information, educate voters and cut the costs it has incurred through more traditional advertising campaigns (Ngnenbe, 2019). Political parties, particularly the main two, are also known to employ social media strategies for their campaigns, and observers have noted that both parties have been busy building “battalions of social media armies” ahead of the 2020 election. Compared to the last election, held in 2016, the 2020 campaigns are expected to be much more coordinated, particularly on the part of the NDC. The NDC’s social media use was 154