Georgian journalists and opposition members are being summoned to court over offensive Facebook posts

In Georgia, journalists, civil society activists and opposition members are receiving court summonses en masse over social media posts that the ruling party considers offensive. According to local media, those summoned to court include TV Pirveli hosts Vakho Sanaia, Vika Bukia and Ekaterina Mishveladze, Mtavari correspondent Dea Mamiseshvili, human rights activist Baia Pataraia, activists Mariam Geguchadze and Anna Subeliani, opposition members Elene Khoshtaria, Aleko Elisashvili, Levan Khabeishvili, as well as former president of the National Bank of Georgia Giorgi Kadagidze.

These individuals are accused of insulting the leader of the parliamentary majority Mamuka Mdinaradze and the head of the parliamentary investigative commission, MP Tea Tsulukiani, based on Facebook posts.

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) has reacted critically to these measures, considering them a restriction on freedom of speech.

“Publications on social networks that do not contain real threats (…) are protected by freedom of expression. Any judicial interpretation that contradicts this standard will become a precedent for mass censorship,” GYLA emphasized.

On May 3, the international media rights organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published its annual press freedom index for 2024. In Georgia, which ranked 114th out of 180 countries, the advertising market is controlled by the founder of the ruling party, oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili. The situation is aggravated by a number of repressive initiatives adopted by the Georgian Dream. First of all, we are talking about the law on “foreign influence”, which blocks foreign sources of funding. In addition, amendments were introduced to the Law on Broadcasting. The first package of amendments banned direct and indirect foreign funding for TV and radio channels, and this even affected social advertising. The second part of the amendments set standards for content on air, as well as on the websites of TV and radio companies and their pages on social networks. The ruling party also announced plans to develop a similar bill for online media.

It recently became known that the ruling party of Georgia is starting a fight to limit the use of such definitions in the media as "oligarch", "Ivanishvili regime", "political prisoners", "illegitimate parliament", "Russification", "repression", etc. For their use on TV and in social networks, "Georgian Dream" filed complaints with the Communications Commission against the opposition TV media TV Pirveli, Formula and Mtavari on the basis of a number of articles of the Law on Broadcasting.