Using videos out of their context to spread fake news is nothing new. However, the latest concern when it comes to disinformation are so-called ‘deep fakes,’ manipulated videos created with artificial intelligence. Deepfakes can make it look like somebody did or said something he or she actually didn’t: There’s Obama insulting President Trump (“President Trump...

Kremlin’s online media outlets, Sputnik-Ossetia and Sputnik-Abkhazia, are actively operating in Georgia’s occupied regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These websites are one of the sources of information for the people living in these regions. Kremlin’s propaganda machine is trying to achieve its goals through Sputnik media outlets. Its goal is to portray Georgia as...

The Parliament’s November 14 decision to vote down the constitutional amendment on transition to fully proportional electoral system from 2020 triggered large-scale protests outside the Parliament building on Rustaveli Avenue. The protesters, among them opposition parties, are demanding replacement of the electoral system by the so called “German model.” On November 18, the Georgian government...

On November 11, the Kutaisi-Gaenati Metropolitan Bishop Ioane, in an interview with Kutaisi Post, said that Kvatakhevi, Betania, and Sioni churches, destroyed by Agha Mohammad Khan were re-built and restored by Russia. In an interview with NewsFront, the Metropolitan Bishop tried to justify the whitening of churches by Russia as well and noted that whitening...

Update: The page “Giorgi Aghapishvili Blog” was taken down by Facebook in December 2019. Hundreds of other pages and groups involved in inauthentic coordinated behaviour were also deleted. According to Facebook, this network was linked to the Georgian Dream ruling party. Updated version: A Facebook page called “გიორგი აღაპიშვილის ბლოგი” (Giorgi Aghapishvili’s Blog) that has been...

On November 6, 2019, an online edition, Georgia and World released an article headlined “Father Giorgi (Razmadze): we will definitely see the next series of a dirty and smear campaign discrediting the Church and His Holiness.” Giorgi Razmadze, leader of St. Ketevan Martyr’s Church, notes that western leaders are fighting against Christianity; he brings an...

Extremist groups were especially active in Georgia in the past years, trying to spread pro-Russian, nationalist messages through violent methods. In recent years, the groups that popularize the same messages through attacking liberalism are becoming stronger. “Liberal ideology has outlived its purpose,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said in the interview with Financial Times this summer....

On October 24, 2019, Luke Coffey, expert at Heritage Foundation, wrote on his Twitter about possible deployment of U.S. troops in Georgia. According to Luke Coffey’s proposal, “US troops leaving Syria could be sent to Georgia and become an “over the horizon” force to respond quickly if ISIS reconstitutes.” He also added that USA could...

A Georgian-language website of pro-Kremlin media outlet News Front emerged on Georgian media market in October 2019. The news agency News Front was registered on Russian web hosting server reg.ru in November 2014. The website’s IP address is located in the Russian town of Rostov. Until recently, News Front was spreading news in eight languages...

The deadline for fulfilling interim obligations imposed by the government on the Anaklia Development Consortium expired on October 15 that was followed by a new campaign of discrediting the Anaklia deep sea port project. Incumbent and former government officials, as well as pro-government experts are fomenting skepticism about the Anaklia port project. The Myth Detector...

On October 14, Editor of Kvakutkhedi magazine – Khatuna Saginashvili published a post on Facebook, where she claimed that Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) and Ilia State University prohibit citing Russian scholars’ works in scientific papers. Saginashvili’s Facebook post was published in the form of an article on October 15 by Marshalpress.ge and for.ge,...

On September 10, at the 5th Tbilisi International Conference, organized by the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) and the McCain Institute for International Leadership, the former Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen voiced an initiative that the Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty be enacted for occupied Georgian terriotires only after the country...