On March 27, the Facebook page “Political Satire” published a photo of Nika Melia, one of the leaders of the “Akhali” party, with the quote: “Georgian Dream bribed FIFA so that we could qualify to Euro2024, and as a result, the party could win the elections. This is nothing but dishonesty!” The Facebook page writes in the description of the post: “According to Nika Melia, the results of Georgia-Greece were not decided at Dinamo Stadium, but in the offices of the bosses of the “Georgian Dream”. Due to the fact that it is an election year, “GD” will use all methods to win the elections. This is how Georgia qualified to the European Championship. They bribed FIFA and practically showed us the first example of bribing the voters.”
Facebook users perceive the Facebook post about Nika Melia as real information.
The satirical Facebook page publishes a Fabricated quote under the name of Nika Melia. The politician did not make a statement of similar content.
“Political Satire” publishes a fabricated quote under the name of Nika Melia. In fact, the politician’s statement of similar content cannot be found on his official Facebook pages (1;2), the “Akhali” party page, and the websites of media outlets.
Nika Melia also left a comment on the Facebook post and called on “Political Satire” to refrain from falsehoods.
“Political Satire” is a satirical-humorous Facebook page, which states that it mocks Georgian political reality.
The fabricated quotes spread by the Facebook page have been verified by “Myth Detector” in the past as well:
- FABRICATED QUOTE DISSEMINATED IN THE NAME OF LELO PARTY LEADER MAMUKA KHAZARADZE
- FACEBOOK ACCOUNT „POLITICAL SATIRE” SPREADS A FABRICATED QUOTE IN THE NAME OF GIORGI VASHADZE
The article has been written in the framework of Facebook’s fact-checking program. You can read more about the restrictions that Facebook may impose based on this article via this link. You can find information about appealing or editing our assessment via this link.
Read detailed instructions for editing the article.
Read detailed appeal instructions.
