On October 14, 2022, the Facebook page of the Special Penitentiary Service published video footage showing former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s imprisonment. According to the explanation of the Penitentiary Service, the footage was made public due to high public interest, and it reflects different periods of Saakashvili’s imprisonment. In addition, the post stated that the...

On December 2nd, 2022, the founder of the anti-liberal social movement “Georgian Mission,” Ramaz Gagnidze, published a photo of two half-naked men wearing wigs. According to the caption, the photo was taken at New York Pride in 1999 and shows the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the advisor of the Office of the President...

On November 22nd, 2022, Levan Nikolaishvili, a pro-governmental expert, responded to the statement of the US ambassador to Georgia, Kelly Degnan. Degnan’s statement concerned the comments made by David Kramer, executive director of the George W. Bush Center, on the imposition of sanctions on Bidzina Ivanishvili. Nikoleishvili criticized Kelly Degnan for the comment where the...

On October 12th, 2022, Georgian-language supporters of the “Conservative Movement” (1, 2, 3, 4) published posts about the video addresses of the President of Ukraine, claiming that Volodymyr Zelenskyt’s speeches are not being recorded on the streets of Kyiv, but in the studio. The posts are accompanied by a video showing the process of recording...

A disinformation message about the US having assisted Georgia with “water and diapers” during the August 2008 war, has been a mantra of pro-Kremlin actors for years to sow skepticism towards the strategic partner. The aforementioned message has been reactivated this year by supporters of pro-Russian political party Alt-Info/Conservative Movement.  On 7 August, the Facebook...

On June 14th, 2022, during the Alt-Info program “Commentary of the Day”, Alexandre Palavandishvili spoke about the June 9th resolution of the European Parliament and Georgia-EU relations, noting that the Georgian Dream only deviated from the Western course when it refused to open a second front and hold an LGBT parade in the country. Palavandishvili...

On June 8th, 2022, the European Parliament adopted a joint resolution on violations of media freedom and the safety of journalists in Georgia, expressing concern about the deteriorating media situation and the safety of journalists in the country in recent years. The resolution condemns cases of intimidation, threats and violence against journalists and calls on...

On May 15th, the Facebook user ‘Nino Sharabidze’ published an alleged quote from the famous American businessman David Rockefeller. The post ascribes to Rockefeller the following words: “It is necessary to organize world processes in such a way that the Arabs kill the Arabs, the Slavs kill the Slavs. We cannot allow the third world...

On May 16th, the Tbilisi City Court convicted Nika Gvaramia, General Director of the Mtavari Arkhi, of causing damage to Rustavi 2 and sentenced him to 3.5 years in prison. While Gvaramia’s arrest was harshly criticized by the media, and local and international NGOs, a campaign aimed to discredit Gvariamia and the journalists of the...

The Story of a Georgian Troll who Gives Interviews Using a Picture of a Russian Social Media User Since the initiation of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022, the West has imposed a number of sanctions to stop its aggression. However, the Georgian government decided against joining the sanctions. According to...

  Fagan Abbasov Fagan Abbasov is a second-year Public Administration MA student at the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs and has earned a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tbilisi State University. Fagan is the Marneuli municipality regional representative of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) and is actively cooperating with local...

Following the end of February 2022, the Russia-Ukraine war became the new focus of Georgian anti-vaxxers as they started disseminating Russian-backed conspiracy theories and disinformation. Facebook accounts that oppose vaccination, on the one hand, seek to justify Russian military intervention in Ukraine, presenting the war as an operation to free Ukraine of nationalists and perversion,...