An analysis of Social Media use in The SADC region - 2014 - 2020 Social media propaganda - Account Types Fake accounts are used by cyber troops to spread computational propaganda. There191 is a growing prevalence of three types of fake accounts: bot192 , human, and cyborg193. The accounts are often used to amplify narratives or drown out political dissent. More common than bots are human-run accounts, which do not make use of automation. Instead they engage in conversations by posting comments or tweets, or by private messaging individuals via social media platforms. There is also presence of hacked or stolen accounts within the typology of fake accounts. Although these accounts are not ‘fake’ per se, high profile accounts are strategically used by cyber troops in order to spread pro-government propaganda or to censor freedom of speech by revoking access to the account by its rightful owner. A small number of state actors have begun using stolen or hacked accounts as part of their campaigns, highlighting the interconnectivity of computational propaganda with more traditional forms of cyber-attacks. Finally, it is important to note that not all accounts used in cyber troop activities are fake. In some countries, state actors encourage cyber troops to use their real accounts to spread pro-government propaganda, troll political dissidents, or mass-report content. As social media companies become more aggressive in taking down accounts associated with cyber troop activity, the co-option of real accounts could become a more prominent strategy.194 191 https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/89/2017/07/Troops-Trolls-and-Troublemakers.pdf 192 Bots are highly automated accounts designed to mimic human behaviour online 193 Cyborg accounts, which blend automation with human curation, are another account type we identified 194 Joyce, Mary, Rosas Antonio, and Philip N. Howard. 2013. Global Digital Activism Data Set. http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/ studies/34625/version/2. 35 https://zimbabwe.misa.org