The country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobajidze, made false claims about this law when he indicated that the EU had passed a similar one, but it was stalled. Narratives are circulating about the regulation that target media critical of the government and opposition groups as ‘foreign agents’. Georgian Dream links the stalling of Georgia’s EU accession to the influence of this alleged group that they call the ‘global war party’ in Brussels.
Narratives about the supposed negative consequences of Georgia’s EU membership: agricultural land will be sold to foreign powers or opposition parties will be banned
Myth Detector and GRASS explain to Maldita.es that they have detected a ‘tendency’ in the government to manipulate issues ‘related to the economic progress’ of the country and its entry into the EU in order to ‘influence public opinion’. These narratives have been spread via ‘a vast infrastructure’ involving pro-government television stations, online media, social media profiles and influencers, according to the verifiers.
Regarding the alleged threat alluded to by Georgian Dream that if the country joins the EU some opposition parties will be banned, a number of the party’s leaders have claimed that in other European countries such as Spain, Ukraine or Moldova it is a ‘common practice’. In the content propagating this narrative with reference to Spain as an example, four parties are mentioned, three of which are parties in the Basque Country whose disappearance is not related to Spain’s entry into the EU, but to their links with ETA: they are Acción Nacionalista Vasca, Partido Comunista de las Tierras Vascas and Batasuna.
Screenshot of a Facebook post by ‘Georgian Dream’ MP Nino Tsilosani. Source: Facebook – Myth Detector.
It has also been claimed that Moldova, after becoming a candidate for EU membership, will be forced to sell its agricultural land to foreigners if it continues with the accession process, when in reality EU law leaves decisions regarding agricultural land sale up to the member states themselves, added to this Moldova is not an EU country at the moment. The Georgian prime minister has also said that ‘Georgia is moving closer to the EU while Ukraine and Moldova are moving further and further away’, which is false because both countries applied to join the EU in 2022.
Other Georgian Dream members have wrongly compared Georgia’s level of poverty or equality before the law with other EU or NATO countries. In addition, a decontextualised statement from a member of the German parliament calling Georgian society ‘stupid’ after a visit was spread in the media and social networks, when in fact he was using slogans similar to those of Bill Clinton’s 1992 US presidential campaign.
The government downplays Moscow’s influence over the republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia has recognised as independent state since 2008
Georgia’s president said in September 2024 that since 2012 Russia has made no territorial or economic progress there. In August 2008, Russia invaded two provinces bordering Russia: Abkhazia and South Ossetia, self-proclaimed independent provinces in 1992 and 1990, respectively. They have only been recognised as independent by five countries, including Russia, which did so in 2008 after initiating its invasion. Since 2012, Russia has not annexed any more of the country’s territories, but it does maintain influence there.
A deepfake video circulated in September 2024 with Putin saying that Abkhazia is part of Georgia and that he had stopped funding the territory. According to GRASS, the original video used in the recording is from a 2023 event, where Putin did not mention the Abkhazia region at any point. According to Myth Detector, together with the de facto authorities of both provinces, Russia is undermining Georgian sovereignty there.
Georgian Dream blames this conflict on the former National Movement government, now in opposition. In a Facebook post published on the anniversary of the conflict, the ruling party called for accountability. Frictions with Russia over these territories are particularly sensitive in the country also because of Georgia’s economic dependence on Moscow in fields such as trade and energy.
Attacks against the LGTBQ+ community have also been circulating with the recent passing of the law banning their ‘propaganda’, and against ethnic minorities
In September 2024, the Tbilisi parliament passed a law to censor ‘LGTBQ propaganda’ in the country that restricts, among other measures, the right to association and demonstration, adoption, gender reassignment and equal marriage.
The law has been condemned internationally by the Venice Commission, the European Union, Germany and the United States. According to the GRASS team, Georgian Dream says that ‘foreign powers’ want to ‘undermine Georgian identity and orthodox Christianity’ by supporting the LGTBQ+ collective. The narrative that the West is attacking traditional family values is a speech that has been broadcast on several television channels in the country in 2024.
Xenophobic content and disinformation against the ethnic Armenian minority has also been circulated. The content attacks members of the opposition of Armenian origin. Some content included mentions of their physical appearance or messages ridiculing them. There are also disinformation campaigns specifically targeting these Russian-speaking ethnic Armenian and Azerbaijani minorities. One example is the Russian-language Facebook page ‘Javakian Diaspora of Russia’, which targets the Armenian minority of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region and spreads ‘anti-Western narratives’.
Disinformation has also crept into the world of football. On 11 October, a match was played between the Georgian national team and Ukraine. According to GRASS, hours before the match, disinformation was spread, claiming that those attending the event had to ‘kneel down’ before the Ukrainian team.
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Publish date : 2024-10-25 08:29:00
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