On January 22, Facebook users Bakari Vardosanidze and Dato Faika Nacvlishvili posted information alleging that a case had been opened in Belgium against former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for inciting the conflict in Ukraine. According to Vardosanidze’s post, Belgian lawyer Philippe Vanlangendonck stated that Stoltenberg could face a life sentence. Vanlangendonck represents French publicist...

On August 4, 2023, Georgian-language Facebook accounts (1, 2, 3), including blogger Beka Vardosanidze, published photos of journalists of “TV Pirveli” and “Alt-Info,” who were covering the disaster in Shovi. According to the authors of the posts, “TV Pirveli” journalist Nanuka Kajaia laughs while covering the disaster, while “Alt-Info” journalist Sofia Javelidze “barely holds her...

Several days ago, the report of the “Foreign Agents Registration Act” (FARA) was published in the Georgian media, which mentions the former president of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, in the record about the lobbying of the interests of Mikheil Saakashvili. From July 24, media outlets with pro-government editorial policies disseminated the information that, according to FARA...

On February 25-26th, 2023, photos depicting the meeting of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the President of the US, Joe Biden, in Kyiv went viral on social networks and media. Russian propaganda outlets (Известия, lenta.ru, ria.ru, aif.ru, topnews.ru, riafan.ru, fedprss.ru) and individual Facebook accounts (1, 2) wrote that the president of Ukraine has...

On October 15th, 222, the Facebook page of the pro-Kremlin political party “Conservative Movement” published an October 14th story from the Kremlin TV channel ЦАРЬГРАД that concerned the visit of the leaders of the “Conservative Movement” to Russia. The story claimed that Western propaganda in Georgia paints a completely different image of Russia and presents...

On September 18th, the Russian-speaking Facebook account Сергей Дар published a post claiming that on March 2nd, 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution with 141 votes calling on Russia to end the “special military operation”, and on August 25th, 2022, only 58 countries supported the same resolution, which is only 30% of the...

On September 1st, in a livestream published on his Facebook page, Georgian blogger Beka Vardosanidze talked about increased prices for gas, electricity and food in Europe. Based on the Daily Mail, Vardosanidze showed a photo collage indicating the prices of various products in the UK. According to him, “due to gas inflation,” prices in Great...

From March 24th onwards, the Russian-language media and the Georgian Facebook accounts have been actively spreading information about Hunter Biden’s alleged involvement in the production of biological weapons in Ukraine. Russian-language outlets base the claims mainly on two sources: the March 24th briefing by Igor Kirilov, the commander of the Russian Army’s Atomic, Biological and...

Following the end of February 2022, the Russia-Ukraine war became the new focus of Georgian anti-vaxxers as they started disseminating Russian-backed conspiracy theories and disinformation. Facebook accounts that oppose vaccination, on the one hand, seek to justify Russian military intervention in Ukraine, presenting the war as an operation to free Ukraine of nationalists and perversion,...

On February 25th, the Facebook user “Beka Vardosanidze” published a post claiming that the tank that ran over a car in Ukraine was not Russian but Ukrainian, which lost control due to a technical malfunction. To prove his point, Vardosanidze argues that the Russian tanks usually move in columns, while the tank shown in the...

On February 24th, a video allegedly depicting a large number of military planes in the Ukrainian sky has become viral on Georgian social media. According to the descriptions, the footage was taken in Ukraine, and the aircrafts belonged to the Russian military. The videos were shared by “Alt-Info” host Nikoloz Mzhavanadze, blogger Beka Vardosanidze and...

On January 11, a Facebook profile, ‘Patriot Georgian’ posted a low-quality photo depicting an unidentified man wearing a dress. According to the post’s author, the man in the picture is Zuka Berdzenishvili, a member of the civil movement “Shame”. The man in the photo is not Zuka Berdzenishvili but Marcos Flores, wearing his girlfriend’s attire....

On December 25th, the Georgian government revealed its plans to abolish the State Inspector’s Office and create two new supplementary agencies. The State Inspector herself responded to the information, noting that she had found out about the “conspiratorially” initiated change regarding the abolition of her service from the media. She further noted that the change cannot be perceived as a reform...

In September-October, the Lugar Laboratory once again sparked the interest of the Russian media (YouTube channel Military Arsenal, Svpessa.ru) and Georgian pro-Kremlin sources (Georgia and the World, Beka Vardosanidze, Facebook account Lasha Modebadze). During this period, the aforementioned sources made the following new allegations directed against the Richard Lugar Center for Public Health Research: Military Arsenal – Военный...

On August 18th, the Facebook Page “Beka Vardosanidze’s Blog” shared a video where Beka Vardosanidze talks about the ineffectiveness of the new COVID-19 vaccines. At the beginning of the video, Vardosanidze listens to the live conference of the NCDC director Amiran Gamkrelidze and claims that since the overall number of deaths in Israel is large,...

Blogger Natia Colussi obtained large-scale exposure to Georgian social media after publishing a video named “Very Unpopular video: Plans behind the March for Dignity” on July 7th. Following the forced cancellation of the “March for Dignity, mass violence against journalists, repression of LGBTQ+ activists and raging homophobic discourse, the video rapidly became popular among the...

The statement of Tbilisi Pride regarding the planned events on July 1-5 aimed at protecting the LGBTQ+ rights (including the Pride March planned on July 5th on Rustaveli Ave.) was followed by violent, homophobic and anti-Western messages by hate groups. The following report consists of two parts, which, on the one hand, analyze the messages...

On June 16, Facebook page “ბექა ვარდოსანიძის ბლოგი•Beka Vardosanidze’s blog” published Arizona Governor’s Order about the accessibility of higher education to all students. The author of the post, Beka Vardosanidze writes that according to Arizona Governor’s Executive Order COVID vaccines, masks and tests are banned in schools. Vardosanidze also states that students have no right...

Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria became the target of pro-Kremlin and antiliberal groups after Bishop Spiridon (Abuladze) of Skhalta refused to permit the Public Defender’s monitoring visit to the Orthodox Church-run Ninotsminda orphanage. Myth Detector has identified the actors involved in the campaign of discrediting the Public Defender on social and traditional media. In particular:...

On June 2, 2021, Facebook user, anti-vaxxer Koba Kuprashvili uploaded a video address regarding the disclosure of emails from Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Kuprashvili claims that Fauci’s emails obtained by hackers finally confirm the artificial origin of the coronavirus, while in one of the emails, Fauci...

On May 11, 2021, the media portal “Georgia and the World” published an interview with Dimitri Lortkipanidze, the director of the Primakov Georgian-Russian Public Center. The article titled “Dimitri Lortkipanidze: This Law doesn’t Protect So-called Vulnerable Groups But Instead Serves as a Punitive tool against Traditional Society” is dedicated to the 7th anniversary of anti-discrimination...

On May 29, former Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia inaugurated a new political party “For Georgia.” Gakharia was elected as the chairman of the party at the inaugural congress. The inauguration of the new political party triggered mixed reactions on social media. Part of Facebook pages supporting the government and discrediting the opposition, as well...

Massive violence erupted between locals in the southern town of Dmanisi of Kvemo Kartli region on May 17 following a shop incident that took place a day earlier. The Interior Ministry, riot police and government officials had to intervene to defuse the tensions. The confrontation between Georgian citizens – local ethnic Georgian and Azerbaijani population –...

On March 30, Facebook user Beka Vardosanidze shared a post, where a quote by Pfizer’s former vice-president is stated: “This may be used to massively reduce the population”. At the end of the quote, Beka Vardosanidze emphasizes, that he will share the full version of the text on the social network Telegram, since otherwise, “Facebook’s...

On March 21, Facebook user Beka Vardosanidze published a post stating that Pfizer’s executive director Albert Bourla hasn’t received the COVID-19 vaccine and as he explains, it’s due to the vaccine not being recommended for his age group.  On March 22, Beka Vardosanidze shared CNBC’s article on this topic and noted in the caption that...

  On March 17, after midnight, the power supply was cut off in most parts of Georgia. This became the basis of conspiracy theories and was considered as Turkey’s response to a demonstration against Namokhvani HPP. A military blogger, David Nemsadze, portrayed the power outage on March 17 as an energy sabotage, highlighting that a...

Before police detained Nika Melia, leader of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party, during a special operation at the party headquarters, international partners called on the Georgian government to de-escalate tensions and avoid deepening polarization caused by the political impasse following the 2020 parliamentary elections. They also called on the opposition to end their...

On February 9, the Alt-Info TV program “Alt Interview” hosted Beka Vardosanidze, Georgian supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who reiterated that the U. (modafinil) S. presidential election was rigged. In response to Myth Detector’s article covering this issue and in an attempt to illustrate ballot fraud in the United States, he cited a...

On 28 January, speaking in a talk show “Reaction” on TV Pirveli, Iveri Melashvili discussed, among other things, the process of defining a disputed section of the border. Various media outlets and political actors took only a fragment of the talk show and shared it extensively. The mentioned fragment contained few sentences, including the words...

The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on January 20. Biden took over the presidency amid widespread voter fraud allegations voiced by ex-President Donald Trump and his allies since the November elections. The same allegations were actively promoted in Georgia by Trump supporters, ultranationalist and pro-Kremlin media...

On January 19, a Georgian Trump supporter, Beka Vardosanidze, spoke in a program “Alt-Interview” at an ultra-nationalist TV channel Alt TV. He claimed that Biden had made a statement about allowing a nine-year-old child to change sex. We also find similar information in a material disseminated by the Union of Orthodox Journalists on December 7,...

On January 10, a Facebook user Beka Vardosanidze, a Georgian supporter of Donald Trump, published a post claiming that a letter written by Nancy Pelosi to the Mayor of Portland had been leaked, showing that the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives supported the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in Portland and asked...

On 7 January 2021, a Facebook user, Beka Vardosanidze, shared a picture captioned “BLM,” showing several photos, including a Twitter page of John Sullivan, one of the protesters who stormed the Capitol building on 6 January. According to the Facebook post, Sullivan is linked to the movement Black Lives Matters (BLM) and consequently, is not...

On October 17, TV Obiektivi aired a documentary titled “The Ukraine Hoax: Impeachment, Biden Cash, Mass Murder”. The documentary was shared by the Facebook page of the television, as well as a Facebook page tinp.ge on October 19. The caption of TV Obiektivi’s Facebook video post mentions that “the movie exposes the anti-Georgian and anti-Ukrainian actions of the Soros foundation and Joe Biden’s emissaries”. It also...

Based on open source information, the Myth Detector has analyzed the pages run by Irakli Jankarashvili as well as the platforms associated with him, identifying the links between pro-government, antiliberal and pro-Russian platforms. Irakli Jankarashvili runs the page “ანტილიბერალური დოქტრინა” (Antiliberal Doctrine) and a group “ამხილე პორტირებული ნაცები” (Disclose Ported Natsis, referring to the opposition...

On April 17, Prof. Zurab Guruli, U.S.-based Georgian doctor, published a post on his Facebook page, where he voiced his opinions about treating COVID-19 patients with Plaquenil in Georgia. The doctor criticized the virus treatment protocol, noting that asymptomatic patients, as well as patients with mild symptoms are being treated with Plaquenil in Georgia that...

On February 7, a website tralsazrisi.ge released an article headlined “Scandal! The Americans disclose the alliance between Saakashvili, Soros and Biden against Georgia and Ukraine.” The article is accompanied by the link of an American documentary, redirecting us to tvalsazrisi.ge’s YouTube channel. On the same day, the article was shared by Facebook pages “Stalin,” “Jaba...

On February 5, a member of anti-liberal group “Georgian March”, Beka Vardosanidze, published a screenshot of the Facebook post of a member of the Republican Party, Levan Berdzenishvili, dated July 10, on his personal Facebook page. The screenshot of Levan Berdzenishvili’s Facebook post contained an obscene word toward Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani: “F**k me if...

On January 16, National Democratic Institute (NDI) published the results of the public opinion poll held in the period from 19 November to 13 December, according to which Georgia’s ruling party’s and its leader Bidzina Ivanishvili’s rating has dropped again since April. The results of the research resulted in NDI discreditation campaign by the actors...

Reports emerged on October 5 that Ilia Jishkariani, member of the Tbilisi City Council (Sakrebulo) was accused by Tamta Todadze, his assistant, of attempted rape and sexual violence. On October 8, the Prosecutor’s Office granted Tamta Todadze the status of a victim and brought charges against Ilia Jishkariani. Tamta Todadze’s accusations against the Sakrebulo member...

On March 4, 2019, an online edition Alt-Info released an article headlined “Georgian Dream submitted the Code on the Rights of the Child to the Parliament, based on which parents may be banned from shouting at their own children or pulling their ears, while preaching religious norms may be considered as providing harmful information to...