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The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has been monitoring coordinated propaganda campaigns on social media platforms for years. In this regard, alongside the activities of anonymous actors, the scale of engagement by media outlets supporting the political party “Georgian Dream” and individuals positioning themselves as experts is particularly noticeable. These actors often use undeclared, nontransparent advertisements, inauthentic accounts, and propaganda media outlets to manipulate public opinion and create an alternative reality in the online space. 

The statement made by Irakli Kobakhidze on November 28, 2024, regarding the suspension of Georgia’s European Union accession negotiations, triggered another wave of protests across the country. These demonstrations were met with repeated dispersals involving excessive force and the arrest of dozens of participants. Numerous pieces of evidence suggest that these individuals are facing political retaliation, with law enforcement agencies and the courts acting in coordination to demonstratively punish them. 

The political underpinnings of this process are made particularly obvious by the fact that actors associated with the “Georgian Dream” are conducting a regular discrediting campaign against the arrested individuals. 

In addition, during the same period, several political party leaders were arrested and charged with criminal offences for failing to show up at the sessions of the temporary investigative commission of the Parliament of Georgia established in violation of the law. A similar coordinated propaganda campaign was also conducted against political party leaders on social media. ISFED monitored precisely these campaigns on Facebook and TikTok in recent months, revealing their scale and tactics. 

 

Discrediting civic activists and journalists imprisoned on political grounds 

While covering the trials in Tbilisi and Batumi courts of individuals arrested during the ongoing nationwide protests, media outlets published numerous materials indicating politically motivated persecution of the defendants. Subsequently, despite high public interest, the “Georgian Dream” party restricted media access to the trials. In particular, journalists were prohibited from taking photos, audio, and video without a permission from the High Council of Justice. In parallel, the operation of discrediting arrested individuals was intensified on social media in order to influence public opinion.  

According to ISFED’s observations, individuals were made targets of the information operations mainly on the days of the announcement of their verdicts. After the judge would find a prisoner guilty and sentence them, the “Georgian Dream”-supporting propaganda media outlets “Imedi”, “POSTV”, and diverse news agencies began justifying the verdict and spreading discrediting posts about the detainee on their Facebook pages. After that, individuals positioned as experts, affiliated with the “Georgian Dream”, and anonymous accounts were becoming active, spreading identical messages on social media. More specifically, this tactic was used against Mate Devidze, Giorgi Mindadze, Saba Jikia, and Anri Kvaratskhelia. 

After Judge Nino Galustashvili found 21-year-old Mate Devidze guilty of assaulting police officers on June 12, 2025 and sentenced him to four years and six months in prison, a video recording was published on the Facebook pages of “Imedi” and “POSTV” at three-minute intervals, which, according to propaganda media, captured the criminal offense committed by Devidze.

 

 

 

The aforementioned footage was soon shared on the Facebook pages of diverse news agencies and Facebook groups with various content.

 

 

Among other supporters of the “Georgian Dream”, the founders of the public movement “United Neutral Georgia” affiliated with the “Georgian Dream”, Nana Kakabadze and Gela Nikolaishvili, also  sought to place blame on Mate Devidze and justify his sentence. The media platform “Reporter” published their comments on its Facebook page. 

 

 

Anonymous accounts were active in the ongoing information operation against Mate Devidze on Facebook and TikTok. The posts shared an identical message, stating that Mate Devidze is not a political prisoner, but a justly punished perpetrator. 

 

 

Mate Davidze's sister and grandmother, who have been publicly expressing their support for Mate in recent months, became targets of discreditation. The anonymous Facebook accounts "Brdzeni Kritikosi" [A Wise Critic] and "Mikheil Mzetunakhavi" shared a fragment of the grandmother's media comment following the verdict against Devidze, in which she speaks emotionally and weeps, accompanied by identical messages. The video had two similar captions: "I did not expect anything else from those who parented him“, and "what else could one expect from those who brought him up."  

 

 

On July 3, 2025, Judge Nino Galustashvili sentenced one another person. Defendant Giorgi Mindadze became the target of the “POSTV” Facebook page before the verdict was announced. Initially, footage taken at a rally against him was distributed on the propaganda media’s Facebook page, which shows Mindadze throwing fireworks. After Galustashvili found the defendant guilty, the same page distributed a post about Mindadze’s criminal history. It is noteworthy that identical messages were simultaneously distributed on anonymous Facebook accounts. A comment against Mindadze by Vato Shakarishvili, affiliated with the “Georgian Dream”, was distributed on the pages of propaganda media outlets. One of the founders of "United Neutral Georgia" accused Mindadze of committing a violent act in his statement. 

 

 

A coordinated, sponsored campaign against Giorgi Mindadze was underway on anonymous Facebook pages. The edited video discrediting Mindadze was sponsored by at least three anonymous pages on the same day. Two of them, “Shig Evropashi“ and “USAmshoblo”, published a sponsored post with identical text. In the posts that were shared, besides Giorgi Mindadze, his mother, Nani Tsulaia, was also targeted. One of the discrediting accounts shared a video discrediting Tsulaia with the caption “Murderer’s mother.” 

 

 

Another target of the coordinated campaign by “Georgian Dream”–affiliated actors was 19-year-old Saba Jikia, whose final hearing was scheduled for July 3. Anonymous discrediting pages launched a campaign against him around that time; however, when the verdict was postponed to July 10, the spread of discrediting posts temporarily ceased. Jikia, who was accused of kicking an employee of the Special Assignments Department, was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison by Judge Tamar Mchedlishvili on July 10, 2025.  After the verdict was announced, video footage from the protest was published on the Facebook pages of “Imedi” and “POSTV” with identical content, in which Jikia was portrayed as “attacking a police officer with a knife.” It is worth noting that a knife does not appear in Saba Jikia’s case, and the prosecutor’s office was accusing him of striking a police officer with his knee. Nevertheless, in an effort to influence public opinion, the propaganda media portrayed the shiny object visible in the video as a knife. An illustration was published on the “POSTV - Analytics” page, showing Saba Jikia holding a knife. Within minutes of its publication, a person affiliated with the “Georgian Dream” party, Gia Abashidze, shared the illustration in Facebook groups. Similar to the propaganda media, the main topic of posts against Saba Jikia on anonymously operating discrediting pages was the knife. 

 

 

On July 18, 2025, the Facebook page “POSTV - Analytics” distributed a discrediting illustration of Anri Kvaratskhelia even after the verdict was announced. Like other prisoners, the campaign against Kvaratskhelia was also ongoing on anonymous Facebook accounts.

 

 

Prisoners who had not been sentenced yet were also periodically becoming the targets for discrediting campaigns on social media. Mzia Amaghlobeli, the founder of “Batumelebi” and “Netgazeti”, who was arrested on January 12, 2025, under the charges of criminal offence for slapping a police officer, became the target of a discrediting campaign shortly after her arrest. Posts on anonymous anti-opposition pages called her a bully and an obscene person, and portrayed the slapping as an “attack on the police officer.” 

Part of the discrediting posts against Mzia Amaglobeli were about the journalist's 38-day hunger strike and portrayed this extreme form of protest as a "diet" and a "performance" by Amaghlobeli. In addition, posts about the journalist's religious affiliation and sexual orientation were also spread. An anonymous Facebook page, "No to UNM - No to Dictatorship," published a sponsored post on this topic. 

The media outlets “Batumelebi” and “Netgazeti”, founded by Mzia Amaglobeli, have also been subjected to discrediting attacks. The Facebook page “Media with no Conscience” spread disinformation, claiming that the online publication “Batumelebi” had organized rallies in the past demanding the release of Mikheil Saakashvili. As part of this effort, and to mislead Facebook users, the page shared photographs from “Batumelebi’s” coverage of a rally in support of Saakashvili. 

 

 

Supporters of the “Georgian Dream” positioning themselves as experts and media outlets also tried to stir public sentiment against Mzia Amaghlobeli. The opinions of so-called experts were shared on the Facebook pages of the studied propaganda media outlets in order to discredit Amaghlobeli. They tried to connect the journalist with the opposition. Some of the posts contained conspiracies regarding Amaglobeli’s foreign funding. In particular, Mzia Amaghlobeli was accused of receiving funding from the “Deep State”. Fake and suspicious accounts were also used to share posts against Amaghlobeli. For example, a post shared on the page “Shig Evropashi” was shared in groups by an anonymous Facebook profile “Tina Vasadze”. The account in question is being used to spread posts from the pages “United Neutral Georgia” and “Georgia First NEWS” related to Vato Shakarishvili, as well as for sharing the discrediting posts by “ Shig Evropashi ” in different groups.  

 

 

Onise Tskhadadze, a comedian arrested for participating in protests, was also a target of a discrediting campaign on social media platforms. At the same time, his brother Sandro Tskhadadze was also targeted by the campaign. Anonymous pages accused Onise of child abuse and circulated footage showing Onise addressing children at a school through a loudspeaker. 

In order to discredit the Tskhadadzes, fragments of their comedy performances were manipulatively disseminated without explaining the context. In these types of posts, the phrases uttered by the Tskhadadzes during their humorous performances were presented as their political positions. For example, in one of the disseminated videos, the joke uttered by Sandro Tskhadadze was about Terjola. The page “The Akatsuks" disseminated a sponsored post claiming—without providing context—that Tskhadadze was speaking recklessly about the area where he grew up and insulting its residents. 

An analysis of the demographic characteristics of the audience of the ad shows that the advertiser’s target audience was Facebook users aged 45 and above in the Imereti region. 

 

 

Some of the posts spread against Sandro Tskhadadze accused him of fraud and spreading disinformation against the “Georgian Dream”. The coordination of the spreaders of these messages is evidenced by the posts published by various anonymous accounts with identical text in a short period of time. It is noteworthy that identical content was spread simultaneously on Facebook and TikTok. 

 

 

Discrediting current and former politicians imprisoned for political reasons 

Anonymous accounts on social media platforms actively campaigned against politicians who were arrested for failing to appear before the illegally established  Temporary Investigative Commission of the “Georgian Dream”. The posts sought to create the impression that the arrest of opposition politicians was a demand of the people and served to restore justice. The TikTok channel @avoe.ge released a video generated by artificial intelligence,  which was about the trial of opposition leaders in a public court and the obtaining of confessions. They also claimed in the messages that the politicians refused to comply with the Commission's request to aggravate the situation and deliberately went to prison to give the West a reason to put pressure on the “Georgian Dream”. They also developed conspiracies with posts of this nature and claimed that the opposition was tasked with destabilizing the country and putting it in a worse position than Ukraine, which is at war. The anonymous TikTok channel @trends.ge spread a comment by Irakli Kobakhidze, in which he called the detained oppositionists "agents of the Deep State" and indicated that the politicians were put in prison by the decision of their "patrons." 

 

 

It is noteworthy that, similar to the cases of civic activists, the distribution of posts against politicians was getting intensified at the moment of sentencing. After the Tbilisi City Court on May 14, 2025, replaced the 20,000 GEL bail imposed on Irakli Okruashvili with imprisonment, the politician became a target of discrediting on Facebook accounts operating anonymously against the opposition. Some of the mocking posts about Okruashvili focused on his fight against Russia in Ukraine. Photo manipulations circulated to portray the former Minister of Defence as frivolous depicted him in a feminist style. 

After the arrest of Zurab Japaridze, one of the leaders of the political party “Coalition for Change: Gvaramia-Melia-Girchi-Droa”, on May 22, 2025, a campaign to discredit him was launched on the mentioned accounts of Facebook and TikTok. The posts shared served to portray Japaridze as a person responsible for human rights violations during the time the “United National Movement” party was in power. Some of the posts mocking Japaridze were about the rally and the performance held by members of the “Girchi” party near the occupation line in the past. Statements made by Japaridze at various times about the liberalization of drug policy and the legalization of prostitution were used for discreditation. Some of the posts spread against one of the leaders of the “Coalition for Change” were anti-Western in essence. Japaridze was called an agent and a “Soros puppy”. Anti-American messages were spread on anonymous pages supporting the “Georgian Dream” and discrediting the opposition after American Congressman Joe Wilson responded to Japaridze’s arrest and made a statement supporting the oppositionist. The posts accused Wilson of having anti-Georgian sentiments. 

The purpose of the posts was to dehumanize the detainees and undermine public support for them. After the arrests of opposition leaders, posts comparing imprisoned politicians to chickens were actively circulated.

 

 

Following the administrative detention of another leader of the “Coalition for Change Gvaramia-Melia-Girchi-Droa”, Nika Melia, on May 29, anonymous actors on social media platforms began sharing old footage to mock Melia. Among them, a video fragment of a statement made by Melia in 2021, in which he said, “I won’t pay and you won’t be able to catch me,” was shared without context. The campaign against Melia intensified especially after he threw water on Judge Irakli Shvangiradze. The posts called Melia a hooligan, and video collages ridiculing him depicted physical attacks on Melia in the past. 

Following the arrest of Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, leaders of the political party “Strong Georgia-Lelo, for the People, for Freedom!”, some posts were being shared calling the politicians swindlers. 

Photo and video manipulations were also spread ridiculing another leader of the “Coalition for Change Gvaramia-Melia-Girchi-Droa”, Nika Gvaramia and one of the leaders of “The Unity - National Movement” party, Giorgi Vashadze. On June 13, 2025, Nika Gvaramia was arrested after he arrived at the Rustavi prison in parallel to his own trial. In an attempt to discredit Gvaramia, photos of him taken near the Rustavi Penitentiary were also shared along with mocking captions. In addition to the politician, his family members were also targeted in the posts. 

On June 24, 2025, Giorgi Vashadze was arrested at the office of the “Strategy Agmashenebeli” party. After that, mocking, edited videos showing footage of Vashadze’s arrest were simultaneously spread on anonymous Facebook accounts. The mocking memes depicted the politician with the symbols and style typical to a prison. 

Following the arrest of former member of parliament and politician Givi Targamadze on June 27, 2025, a short excerpt from a statement he had made in the past was used to discredit him, and went viral on anonymous pages. Targamadze became the target of ridicule because of his appearance too.