An analysis of Social Media use in The SADC region - 2014 - 2020 public opinion online. Formal organization of cyber troops around the world, use computational propaganda for political purposes. This involves building an inventory of the evolving strategies, tools, and techniques of computational propaganda, including the use of ‘political bots’ to amplify hate speech or other forms of manipulated content, the illegal harvesting of data or micro-targeting, or deploying an army of ‘trolls’ to bully or harass political dissidents or journalists online. Social media computational propaganda The use of computational propaganda to shape public attitudes via social media has become mainstream, extending far beyond the actions of a few bad actors. In an information environment characterized by high volumes of information and limited levels of user attention and trust, the tools and techniques of computational propaganda are becoming a common and arguably essential part of digital campaigning and public diplomacy. Social media propaganda Communication Strategies Cyber troops are using a variety of communication strategies, which may be categorized into the following: (a) the creation of disinformation or manipulated media; (b) mass-reporting of content or accounts; (c) data-driven strategies; (d) trolling, doxing or harassment; (e) amplifying content and media online.190 The creation of disinformation or manipulated media is the most common communication strategy. Over half of the countries in the region, cyber troops actively created content such as memes, videos, and fake news websites or manipulated media in order to mislead users. Sometimes, the content created by cyber troops is targeted at specific communities or segments of users. By using online and offline sources of data about users, and paying for advertisements on popular social media platforms, some cyber troops target specific communities with disinformation or manipulated media. Cyber troops use a variety of messaging and valence strategies when communicating with users online. The typology of messaging strategies that cyber troops use when engaging in conversations with users online: (a) spreading pro-government or pro-party propaganda; (b) attacking the opposition or mounting smear campaigns; (c) distracting or diverting conversations or criticism away from important issues; (d) driving division and polarization; and (e) suppressing participation through personal attacks or harassment. 190 Herring, Susan C. 2009. Web Content Analysis: Expanding the Paradigm. In International Handbook of Internet Research, eds. Jeremy Hunsinger, Lisbeth Klastrup, and Matthew Allen. Springer Netherlands, 233–49. http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-9789-8_14 (May 1, 2020). 34 https://zimbabwe.misa.org