An analysis of Social Media use in The SADC region - 2014 - 2020 The influence of social media on politics is also seen in its use to spread propaganda and in one Zimbabwean newspaper it was reported that the President ‘unleashed’ ZANU PF youths to dominate social media.182 During the 2018 elections, Zimbabwe witnessed what can be rightly termed an online war between varakashi183 and the nerrorists184 characterized by the spread of propaganda to support one’s political party and discredit opposition. 185 campaigns 2017 to 2019187, as shown figure 12 below: Figure 12: Social media manipulation Furthermore, according to remarks by Zimbabwe information Minister,186 “We have also seen, especially during important events such as national elections or crises, social media being used to attack sovereignty, national security, promote commotion and violence by whipping emotions mostly through the dissemination of fake information. Zimbabwe has not been spared, with social media information being used by detractors of the State during the general elections of 2018 to spread falsehoods that had potential to cause national instability.” Social media manipulation during elections There is a significant rise in organized social media manipulation within the region, for example there was a 150% the increase in countries using organized social media manipulation Source: Oxford Internet Institute: Comprop188 Despite there being more social networking platforms than ever, Facebook remains the platform of choice for social media manipulation. The 2019 Oxford Internet Institute Report found evidence of formally organized computational propaganda campaigns on Facebook. Case of Cyber troops Cyber troops are defined189 as government or political party actors tasked with manipulating 182 https://www.zimeye.net/2018/03/09/mnangagwa-unleashes-social-media-cyber-attack-dogs-against-opponents/ 183 Varakashi meaning destroyers and referring to supporters of the ruling party ZANU-PF 184 Nerrorists meaning supporters of opposition party named after the leader Nelson Chamisa popularly identified as Nerro 185https://theconversation.com/a-vicious-online-propaganda-war-that-includes-fake-news-is-being-waged-in-zimbabwe-99402 186 Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa remarks while presenting a paper on “Information as a threat to national security” at the Zimbabwe National Defence University (ZNDU) in Harare, January, 2019. https://www.chronicle.co.zw/ minister-calls-for-laws-regulating-social-media/ 187 https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/93/2019/09/CyberTroop-Report19.pdf 188 https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/93/2019/09/CyberTroop-Report19.pdf 189 Bradshaw and Howard 2017a. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2056305119863147 33 https://zimbabwe.misa.org