Discrediting and propaganda messages spread on Facebook March 2-13
Presenting protest rallies against draft laws on "transparency of foreign influence" as violent
On February 14, a group of deputies formally separated from "Georgian Dream", "People's Power", announced the initiation of a draft law on "agents of foreign influence". Protests against the Russian-style law started taking place at the parliament after the draft law was considered by the committee. The rallies were stopped after the demand was met, and on March 10, the majority withdrew the initiated bill.
After the rallies ended, footages from the protests were actively distributed on anonymous pages and accounts operating against the opposition, in which violent actions by individual participants of the protests were depicted. These pages indicated that the protests were not peaceful, and their nature was violent. The participants of the rally were also accused of trying to implement a revolutionary scenario. The pages tried to discredit the rally by appealing to its political goals. In particular, they pointed to the opposition politicians who were present at the protests and gave speeches. Those pages emphasized that the protests were taken over by the "United National Movement".
Photo 1:
Mikheil Ukrainologi: This is what they call a peaceful protest
Photo 2:
Sitrkhvilis Koridori: The reins of the protests were taken over by the UN members
Mockery of young people participating in protests against the "transparency of foreign influence" draft law
Facebook pages operating anonymously against the opposition published posts against the young people participating in the rally. In particular, they mocked the speakers, published a video of the young people dancing at the protest, and portrayed them as being in a state of inebriation. At the same time, these pages disseminated discrediting messages against famous people who attended the protests.
Photo 3:
Terenti Gldaneli: It is crazy
A campaign against the opposition and part of civil society based on religious motives
Anti-opposition pages and accounts actively spread discrediting messages of the leaders of the "United National Movement", "Strategy Aghmashenebeli" and "Republican Party". The messages against Giorgi Vashadze and Levan Khabeishvili were related to the period of consideration of the Russian draft law on "transparency of foreign influence" and their opinions and actions during rallies. The pages mocked female MPs and Deputy Public Defender Giorgi Burjanadze because of their emotional speeches during the parliamentary hearing and spread cynical messages about their opinions. A part of the opposition and the non-governmental sector were presented on the pages as opposed to the church. The mentioned campaign was present not only online, but also in the form of posters in the streets.
Photo 4:
Mikheil Ukrainologi: Play Osuri, Chiche has come. I know there is no Osuri, it just matches Chiche.
Pro-government media outlets and anonymous pages spread an information video about the Russian draft law on "transparency of foreign influence"
On March 13, after the draft law on "transparency of foreign influence" was officially withdrawn, an informative video titled "What was written in the draft law that the parliament was planning to adopt?" was circulated on anonymous pages and Facebook pages of pro-government media outlets. The video manipulatively explained the details of the operation of the registry, discussed the law in a positive context and mentioned that such laws are present in other countries. Pro-government expert Gia Abashidze shared the video from the "POSTV Analytics" page in various groups.
Photo 5:
Video Title: "What was written in the draft law that the parliament was planning to adopt?"
Lideri 41; For.ge; Sainpormatsio Portali; Simartlis Droa ; Postv-News ; Postv-analytics ;
Gia Abashidze=> Winner Gharibashvili 41
Massages against the leaders of "People's Power" and "Georgian Dream" regarding the opinions expressed regarding the Russian draft law on "transparency of foreign influence"
Anti-government pages spread messages against the leaders of "People's Power" and the ruling party by publishing photo manipulations and mocking their statements. The initiators and supporters of the draft law were referred to as traitors and pro-Russians. Photographs of Mikheil Kavelashvili, one of the initiators of the draft law, were also circulated with insulting headlines. They were referring to the statements made by the politician in the recent period and were trying to denigrate his intellectual abilities.
Photo 6:
Politikuri Vektori: Read books, dears.
Photo 7:
Tanamoazreta Gaertianeba- Sakartvelo: Russian Agent!
Mocking the ruling party after withdrawing the Russian draft law on "transparency of foreign influence"
After withdrawing the draft law, photo manipulations were actively spread on anti-government pages, which indicated that the representatives of the ruling party were in a frightening and difficult situation. Some of them emphasized the superiority of the so-called Gen Z generation and their advantage achieved in relation to the "Georgian Dream" .
Photo 8:
Lurji Viri: Coming soon to cinemas – Kotsaniki's Immersion
Photo 9:
Political memes (from left to right): State Security Service of Georgia, Special Tasks Department, water jets, special forces, #notoRussianlaw, Gen Z, Criminal Police Department, Patrol Police, pepper spray, sirens.
About weekly review
Within the social media monitoring ISFED presents the weekly overview and describes the messages that echo the political issues, virally circulates on social networks (more or less) during the week, and more than one actor, account or page is involved in its distribution. In certain cases, the most interactive posts of the week are presented.
The organization uses the Facebook monitoring tool- CrowdTangle - for data processing and relies on an existing, up-to-date database of pages/accounts involved in discrediting campaigns.
The pages are available on the platform - www.disinfoobserver.ge
The social media monitoring program of the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) is supported by the European Endowment for Democracy (EED). This publication is solely owned by ISFED and may not reflect the views of the donor