Discrediting Messages spread on Facebook December 16 – December 22
Messages against Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the statement made about Mikheil Saakashvili
On December 20, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, called on the Georgian authorities to make a decision to transfer Mikheil Saakashvili abroad for treatment. The statement was followed by a response from pro-government persons (expert Zaal Anjaparidze, the “Ai Ia” founder Vato Shakarishvili, chairperson of the "former political prisoners for human rights" Nana Kakabadze), who considered Zelenskyy's appeal unacceptable. They accused Zelenskyy of facilitating Saakashvili's arrival in Georgia. According to them, Zelenskyy's statement is a new excuse for pressure, and the President of Ukraine is unhappy because the second war front was not opened in Georgia. Media agency POSTV published a story on its Facebook page with the description "Special operation for the release of Misha - Ukrainian high-ranking officials, including the president of Ukraine, were involved in the special operation to release Saakashvili".
Text on the photo: Vato Shakarishvili: „Everything at least gives us a reason to assume that Zelenskyy himself participated in the export of Saakashvili from Ukraine to have a a military ally in Georgia.”
Accusing the former government of signing the "treasonous resolution" of the Council of Europe regarding the 2008 war
On December 16, the International Criminal Court in The Hague completed the investigation phase of the August 2008 war case.
Pro-government experts and members of "People's Power" spread messages against the former government. The previous government was accused of hiding evidence from the Hague court and signing the "treasonous resolution" of the Council of Europe, according to which Georgia started the war.
Posts against Tea Tsulukiani after statements made about Mikheil Saakashvili
On December 15, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth of Georgia, Tea Tsulukiani, said that the European Parliament's resolution is worth a straw for her and she cannot take it seriously, because "this is a resolution that says that Georgia should pet the criminal Saakashvili". On December 20, Tsulukiani responded to the statement of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and noted that Mikheil Saakashvili's place is only in prison. Posts against Tsulukiani were published on the anonymous pages of the government after these statements. Parallel to the completion of the Hague investigation, these pages accused Tsulukiani and the government of blaming Georgia for starting the August 2008 war.
Discrediting posts of Mikheil Saakashvili after attending the court remotely
On December 22, 2022, the ex-president participated remotely in the ongoing process of Mikheil Saakashvili's release from punishment or postponement of the sentence in the Tbilisi City Court. After Saakashvili's appearance, anti-opposition pages and accounts actively started spreading posts where he was accused of deliberately aggravating his own situation and simulating. Regarding Saakashvili's remote participation in the process, the chairman of "Georgian Dream" issued an identical message. Irakli Kobakhidze called what he saw "a flawed simulation".
Mocking Posts of Mamuka Khazaradze after sending generators to Ukraine with inscriptions written in Cyrillic
"Lelo for Georgia" party collected humanitarian cargo, including 25 generators, to be sent to Ukraine. A photo was circulated on anti-opposition Facebook pages, showing how Mamuka Khazaradze is loading generators, the packaging of which has an inscription written in Cyrillic. According to reports against Mamuka Khazaradze, Khazaradze is sending Russian products to Ukraine.
About the weekly review
Within the social media monitoring program, ISFED presents the weekly overview and description of messages that echo political issues, (more or less) virally circulates on social networks during the week, and involves more than one actor, account or page in its dissemination . In certain cases, the most interactive posts of the week are presented.
For data processing, the organization uses the Facebook monitoring tool Crowdtangle and relies on the existing updated database of pages/accounts involved in discrediting campaigns.
The pages are available on the platform - www.disinfoobserver.ge
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