State-sponsored Internet propaganda is Internet manipulation and propaganda that is sponsored by a state. States have used the Internet, particularly social media to influence elections, sow distrust in institutions, spread rumors, spread disinformation, typically using bots, troll farms, or influencers to create and spread content. Propaganda is used internally to control populations, and externally to influence other societies. The term Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) is also used, particularly by the European Union, for state-sponsored Internet propaganda.
Africa : since taking power, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was accused of hacking to promote support for el-Sisi.
Americas : According to researchers quoted by the BBC, the government and multiple competing political parties have used bots. According to a 2017 paper, government-sponsored "spam-bots" have been used to "target journalists" and "spread misinformation". : ZunZuneo (2010–2012) – Attempt to establish a microblogging service controlled by the United States Agency for International Development to undermine the Cuban government Operation Earnest Voice – Sock puppet campaign, officially started in 2011 During the first presidency of Donald Trump, the CIA allegedly used social media accounts with fake identities to spread rumors about the Chinese government, according to an investigation by Reuters. #ChinaAngVirus disinformation campaign : The Bolivarian Army of Trolls, founded in 2017, is tasked with disseminating Bolivarian propaganda and spreading disinformation. According to a document from Venezuela's Ministry of the Interior and Justice leaked in 2017, the Bolivarian Army of Trolls has five squads: pro-government, opponents, neutrals, distraction, and fake news.
Asia-Pacific : The former government of Afghanistan used a state-sponsored Internet troll army to push their narrative and exaggerate Afghan Taliban casualties. Sometimes, the information posted by the army was picked up by uncritical sections of Afghanistan's media and reported without any additional confirmation. : Since the Arab Spring and subsequent uprising, the Government of Bahrain has increased its political and media censorship, as well as launching propaganda disinformation. In 2019, Bahrain was listed as one of 70 countries with widespread Internet propaganda misinformation and hiring cyber hackers to censor bad news about Bahraini government. From 2017, when conflict with Qatar emerged, Bahrain also participated on an Internet propaganda campaign against Qatar and trying to spread sectarian conflicts. : The 50 Cent Party and Internet Water Army are terms used to describe different types of state-sponsored pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Internet propaganda and disinformation operations. According to an article by the South China Morning Post, supporters of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests remarked on the number of "50 cent trolls", but Fang Kecheng, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who has researched Chinese internet nationalism, stated that "the CCP is also acutely aware that radical nationalists may go out of control and cause trouble. So the endorsement is specific to several organs rather than an overall strategy." In June 2020, Twitter deleted over 170,000 accounts allegedly linked to a Chinese government disinformation campaign that targeted Hong Kong and sought to discredit the United States. In December 2021, Twitter removed accounts linked to the Chinese government that aimed to deny human rights abuses of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. In 2022, Chinese public relations firm Shanghai Haixun Technology Co. began planting pro-Beijing stories in almost three dozen news outlets in an effort to help the Chinese government improve its image. In September 2022, Meta Platforms said it disrupted the first known China-based influence operation aimed at targeting U.S. users with political content ahead of the U.S. November midterm elections. In May 2023, Meta Platforms detailed new tactics by the Chinese government in its online disinformation efforts including the creation of a front media company in the West, hiring freelance writers around the world, offering to recruit protesters, and co-opting an NGO. Disinformation networks known as Spamouflage or "Dragonbridge" have been linked to China's Ministry of Public Security and used to attempt to influence U.S. elections. In April 2024, Microsoft Threat Analysis Center observed that deceptive CCP-affiliated social media accounts have started to pose contentious questions on controversial U.S. domestic issues to collect information on key voting demographics before the November 2024 U.S. presidential election. On 26 April 2026, Tibetans in 27 countries voted for their Parliament-in-Exile, despite a China-linked online campaign trying to undermine the election. Researchers at the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) said the Spamouflage network, tied to Beijing, spread fake posts attacking the re-elected Sikyong Penpa Tsering and questioning the vote's legitimacy. Most of the effort failed, showing China's ongoing attempts to influence and control how Tibetan politics are seen abroad. : Sponsored trolls are reported to include BJP IT Cell. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has allegedly used troll disinformation to repress and monitor government opponents. In 2019, a European watchdog discovered 265 bogus media outlets in 65 countries which are managed by an "Indian influence network". The network of fake news websites were said to be used to target policy makers in the United States and the European Union to act against Pakistan. The aim of those websites is to spread propaganda and influence public perception on Pakistan. Now defunct, the Tek Fog was a software application operable via a mobile phone. Indian news portal The Wire stated that it was used by the BJP to infiltrate social media platforms in order to promote favourable viewpoints and target perceived opponents.A cyber commission was Congress' secret weapon The Washington Post, 7 January 2022. However, it turned out to be a social media disinformation hoax against the BJP.The Wire issued a formal apology to its readers and took down the Meta and Tek Fog reports. The Washington Post and the Byline Times also reported that a lieutenant colonel of India's foreign intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, established a fake news site called the "Disinfo Lab" to spread disinformation against critics of the Modi government. : Indonesia has engaged by using state-sponsored troll army to spread propaganda against independence movement of West Papua and accused of promoting pro-incumbent campaign in 2019 Indonesian presidential election. At the other hand, Indonesian president Joko Widodo has accused his opposition group for using propaganda, especially from Russia, to spread hoaxes against his administration. : Islamic Republic's troll army are known supporters of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini and the current government of Iran, while criticizing any opposition. In April 2019, the Oxford Internet Institute Computational Propaganda Project published a study on an Iranian-related campaign on Twitter targeting Arab users. The Computational Propaganda team found that this Iranian-related campaign on Twitter focused on masquerading as Arabic news outlets to gain the trust of Arab Twitter users. : Due to the sectarian nature of the country, Iraqi Internet propaganda is also ranged between different groups. During the rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the group had managed to operate a systematic propaganda indoctrination on the Internet to confuse Iraqi civilians. According to human rights activist Faisal Al Mutar, Iraqi online propaganda has been in full speed even after the death of Saddam Hussein. : Israeli State-sponsored Internet propaganda include the Hasbara, Hasbara Fellowships, Act.IL, and the Jewish Internet Defense Force. Supporters generally frame this "hasbara" as part of its fight towards improving their image abroad, and also against anti-Israeli agitation and attempts to criticize it. There is substantive evidence that Israel heavily uses data-driven strategies, trolling and disinformation and manipulated media, as well as dedicating funds to state-sponsored media, for overt propaganda campaigns. : Between 2019 and 2021, an anonymous Twitter account Dappi (@dappi2019) posted a number of tweets praising the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and conservative opposition parties, while attacking left-wing opposition parties and news outlets critical of the LDP through false claims and defamation. Dappi's aim was to sway public opinion against the opposition parties. The tweets were primarily posted during regular office hours, and rarely on weekends, leading to speculation that coordinated efforts were behind the account. In 2021, the individual behind Dappi was identified through a legal request filed by two members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) in the House of Councillors, who sought compensation for the damages caused by the tweets. The individual was revealed to be an employee of the IT company called , which had business dealings with the LDP. : Recent widespread protests in regard to the Arab Spring have led to increasing propaganda and Internet censorship in Jordan, laws have been passed threatening freedom of speech. Internet operation by the state propaganda also seeks to weaken the independent voices of journalists in the country. By 2019, freedom of media in Jordan has declined with regard to growing Internet propaganda by the government. : The government of Nursultan Nazarbayev had historically sponsored a group of internet trolls called "Nurbots" to spread disinformation and divert attention from inner issues. Nazarbayev's successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, has largely continued its legacy of stifling dissent using internet propaganda while masquerading under the mask of democratisation and reforms. : 1. The federal government has begun a systematic campaign online to defame Shiites in accordance with the recent ban of practicing Shi’a Islam in country since the 2010s. 2. The "Onion Army" (Malay: Tentera Bawang) also appeared at certain pro-Israeli Facebook pages to defend Malaysian government's action of barring Israeli participants during the 2019 World Para Swimming Championships. 3. The Special Affairs Department (, "Community Communications Department"; often abbreviated as "J-KOM") is a government agency that has been used as a propaganda machine for the Barisan Nasional (BN) / United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) administration to attack opposition parties and political rivals. The agency has been attributed to engage in state-sponsored anonymous political commentators and trolls by spreading pro-government propaganda on the internet, colloquially known as "cybertroopers" in the country. 4. In 2022, Meta Platforms announced that it has removed hundreds of Facebook and Instagram accounts that were directly linked with the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP), as they were used as part of a troll farm to disseminate propaganda and manipulate public discourse about the Malaysian police and the government. Meta added that such actions were against its policy of "coordinated inauthentic behaviour". : The Tatmadaw and the Burmese government has sponsored propaganda through Internet and dismiss its atrocities towards its minorities like the Rohingya, Shan, Kachin and Karen people. : the troll army of North Korea is known to be supportive of the Kim dynasty's rule, anti-South Korean, and anti-American. They first appeared in 2013. Reportedly, North Korea has 200 agents that post propaganda messages on South Korean portals under assumed identities stolen from South Koreans, with 27,000 posts in 2011 and over 41,000 posts in 2012.