On October 21, 2020, a gunman broke into the Bank of Georgia building in a western Georgian city of Zugdidi and took bank employees and customers hostage, demanding a ransom. It emerged during a police operation that one of the hostages, Irakli Kvaratskhelia, through which the assailant contacted pro-opposition Mtavari Arkhi TV to unveil his ultimatum to the government, had been a member of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party. Anti-opposition and pro-government pages launched a Facebook campaign amid ongoing police operation to link the robbery to the National Movement, claiming that the incident aimed at destabilizing the situation in the country. The narrative was accompanied by Irakli Kvaratskhelia’s photos with the National Movement members, including ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, as well as footage from the latter’s video address, where he says that Bidzina Ivanishvili, leader of the ruling Georgian Dream party, should expect a surprise from him.
Myth Detector has identified 17 Facebook accounts and media outlets, as well as 4 antiliberal and pro-Russian accounts spreading the messages with identical content. They published a total of 13 sponsored posts. Myth Detector also identified two opposition pages, trying to link the Zugdidi incident to the government. The opposition pages posted one advertisement.
| Source involved in the campaig | Number of sources | Names of source | Number of sponsored posts |
|
Anti-opposition/pro-government account |
14 |
|
10 |
|
Antiliberal/pro-Russian account |
4 |
|
1 |
|
Pro-government media |
3 |
|
2 |
| Other media outlets | 1 | რეზონანსი (Rezonans) | 0 |
| Opposition page | 2 |
|
1 |
| Total | 24 | 14 |
Campaign launched by pro-government and anti-opposition pages and groups
The posts with identical texts and photo/video materials about the links of Irakli Pirtskhalava and the United National Movement with the incident were spread by the following pages: პოლიტიკური მოთვალთვალე (Political Spy), მიხეილ უკრაინოლოგი (Mikheil Ukrainologi), ტერენტინ გლდანელი (Terentin Gldaneli), შუბლის ძარღვ გაწყვეტილები (Shameless People), ნაცია -ადამიანი?! (Is a Natsi a human?!) სირცხვილის კორიდორი (Shame Corridor), ამხილე (Disclose), სექტა (Sect), ერთიანი პროვოკაციული მოძრაობა (United Provocative Movement), ნაცების დასაცინი ოფიციალური სააგენტო (Official Agency Mocking at National Movement), ნაცი კლავს (Natsi Kills), პოლიტიკური სარკაზმი (Political Sarcasm), საზოგადოება (Society) and მეხუთე რეიხი (Fifth Reich). News about Irakli Kvaratskhelia’s links with the United National Movement was also spread by the Facebook page of pro-government media outlet POSTV- ახალი ამბები.
Campaign finance
Only four of the above mentioned pages sponsored anti-opposition posts: Political Spy, Shameless People, POSTV – News and Politicano. Political Spy posted six ads on social media; Shameless People – four ads; POSTV News – two ads and Politicano – one ad. A total of 13 anti-opposition ads were posted on social media.
Political Spy has sponsored three posts about the issue – twice each post. The sponsored posts include the post involving footage from Mikheil Saakashvili’s earlier video address, where he promises Bidzina Ivanishvili a surprise. Just this address was manipulatively linked to the Zugdidi incident. Posts about Irakli Kvaratskhelia and Gigi Ugulava were also published as ads. According to Facebook Ad Library, less than USD 100 was spent on each ad posted by Political Spy.
According to Facebook Ad Library, Political Spy spent USD 210 on ads about elections and politics in a period between August 4 and October 19. The page was created on January 13, 2020 and it is presently run by four admins.
Facebook page Shameless People published its posts in a form of ads. The page sponsored two posts – one of them is about the links between the UNM party and the Zugdidi incident, and the other involves humorous memes aimed at caricaturing Gigi Ugulava. Less than USD 100 was spent on each ad twice. The page was created on January 9, 2020 and it has one admin.
Pro-government media outlet POSTV – News spent less than USD 100 twice to sponsor its news about the links between Irakli Kvaratskhelia and Mikheil Saakashvili.
Pro-Russian page Politicano also joined the campaign launched by pro-government pages. It spread only one post as an ad and spent less than USD 100 on it.
Campaign in pro-government groups
The same narrative was also spread in pro-government groups: სიმართლის გზა, გასამართლდეს ნაციონალური მოძარაობა (Road to Truth, Bring the National Movement to Justice) and პროტესტი! Protest! Протест!, where Facebook users promoted an opinion that the National Movement tried to overshadow the investigation around David Gareji Monastery Complex by the Zugdidi terrorist act. One of the users, Oboladze Gia, whom the Who is Who platform identifies as a pro-government troll, compared the incident in Zugdidi with the Lapankuri special operation carried out shortly before the 2012 parliamentary elections. He claimed that in both cases, the National Movement tried to destabilize the situation ahead of elections.
Campaign on antiliberal and pro-Russian pages
Among antiliberal and pro-Russian pages, the posts about the links between the UNM party and the assailant were published by the following pages: კარდჰუ (Kardhu), სტალინი (Stalin), ანტი-პარადოქსი (Anti-Paradox) and პოლიტიკანო (Politicano).
Bondo Mdzinarashvili’s post and its spread
Narrative as if the Zugdidi incident was staged by the United National Movement and that it was plotted jointly with hostages was spread by Bondo Mdzinarashvili, member of Georgian Public Broadcaster’s Board of Trustees, as a post on his Facebook page on October 21. Bondo Mdzinarashvili’s post is no longer available.
Pro-government online media outlets Reportiori.ge, ინტერნეტ მედია ჰოლდინგი – პარალელი (Internet Media Holding Parallel) and რეზონანი (Rezonansi) published Mdzinarashvili’s post with a headline “What information does Bondo Mdzinarashvili possess?”
Opposition pages about Zugdidi incident
Opposition pages also responded to the Zugdidi incident. Anti-government, opposition page Ekvtime Bidzinashvili published the posts trying to portray the gunman as the government’s puppet. Another post supposes that the head of regional police, who was carrying out negotiations with the terrorist, is an accomplice to the crime. The page Ekvtime Bidzinashvili was created on April 3, 2020 and it is run by six admins. The page mainly publishes anti-government and pro-UNM posts.
Bidzina Ivanishvili’s photo caricature published by the page Ekvtime Bidzinashvili was also spread by another page HAHA News – ჰაჰა ნიუსი, which spent less than USD 100 to sponsor the post. HAHA News – ჰაჰა ნიუსი was created on August 26, 2020 and it mainly posts political jokes and memes targeting government officials.
According to Facebook’s Page Transparency section, the page ran ads about politics and elections. The ads were mainly targeting Sergi Gvarjaladze, former head of Tbilisi night economy development project.
