Trolls – hiding behind identities of “Катя Родина” and “Мария Волкова” – rebuke American democracy

On February 17, based on a decision of Tbilisi City Court, the bail for a leader of the United National Movement (UNM), Nika Melia, was replaced with imprisonment. Melia was arrested on February 23 in the office of the opposition. The arrest of one of the leaders of the opposition was followed by protest and harsh statements by international partners. In parallel, anti-opposition pages and pro-governmental trolls became more active on social media – who, on the one hand, considered the government’s decision as an expression of the rule of law, and, on the other hand, were discrediting the United National Movement. In addition, the fake accounts tried to sow distrust towards Georgia’s Western partners and were showcasing them as executioners of the UNM’s orders. As for anti-opposition Facebook pages, they were mainly working in a coordinated fashion and were publishing posts with identical content and visuals.

Myth Detector exposed 41 trolls:

• Two categories of trolls have been exposed: those who steal other people’s identities (11 trolls) and trolls who hide their identity (30 trolls);
• Some pro-governmental trolls disseminated messages in support of the government. The second group of trolls tried to discredit the opposition by remembering the past events. The third group accused the West of having double standards and accused it of interfering in the domestic affairs of Georgia;
• Trolls made offensive comments towards the opposition and the Western partners and labelled ambassadors as working in the interests of the UNM;
• Sixteen out of 41 trolls like governmental pages, pro-governmental news agencies, and pages that aim to discredit the opposition;
• Seven out of 41 trolls indicate different names in the URL and profile, indicating their possibly real or another identity;
• Five out of 41 trolls left identical comments several times on different posts;
• Four out of 41 trolls have been involved in pro-government and anti-oppositional campaigns earlier as well.

Identical posts have been disseminated by pages that aim to discredit the opposition

Pages that aim to discredit the opposition have been exposed – Political Sarcasm, “რეალობა” (Reality), “მიხეილ უკრაინოლოგი” (Mikheil Ukrainologue), “სექტაა” (Sect), “ტერენტი გლდანელი” (Terenti Gldaneli). They were disseminating identical posts about the arrest of Nika Melia between 17:01 and 17:36 with small intervals.

• Trolls against the US

Governmental trolls and anti-oppositional pages actively engaged in the discreditation campaign targeting the West. Their messages often targeted the US – they recalled the storming of the US Capitol, were comparing it to the storming of the Parliament of Georgia and hinted at double standards. They also emphasized that the US does not have moral right to speak of democracy. Messages disseminated by trolls and anti-opposition Facebook pages in social media match the messages by governmental experts – something that Myth Detector has already written about.

Anti-oppositional Facebook page სექტა: “US Embassy Tbilisi, Georgia should rather take care of themselves instead of protecting Melia – you were carrying dead people from US Capitol”.

Administrator of a pro-government Facebook page “ლიდერი 41”, Davit Tordia was sharing pictures of storming the US Capitol with a caption: “Ambassadors did not express concern when the US Capitol was stormed…”.
This was followed by trolls’ comments:

Nino Nebieridze, with an identity stolen from “Катя Родина”: “God, what are they even talking about? Did not they kill people in US Capitol? Are not they killing black people? They are wise in a war which is not theirs, these wannabee democrats ? They can let Nika Melia roam large in their own country.”

Ani Makalatia, with an identity stolen from “Мария Волкова”: “It is such a shame that America talks to us about democracy. We do not have a short memory like you do – we remember the US Capitol events.”

• Trolls against a Lithuanian MP and the Ambassador of the EU

Facebook accounts, including trolls, were reacting to the visit of the Head of Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Lithuania, Žygimantas Pavilionis, and his call towards de-escalation with discrediting comments – something that also became evident in messages by supporters of the government and the government itself, too, as they all accused the Lithuanian MP of having ties with the UNM and working in their interests.

„სექტა“: “[Žygimantas Pavilionis] met Miha [Saakashvili] in Istanbul, received directives, arrived in Georgia and started supporting the UNM” (profanity in original)

Trolls also posted offensive comments after a critical statement, made by the Ambassador of the EU to Georgia about the arrest of the opposition leader:

• Trolls were reminding the UNM the nine years they spent in the government and considered the arrest of Nika Melia as a restoration of justice:

• Identical posts have been disseminated by pages that aim to discredit the opposition

Myth Detector also observed Facebook pages that aim to discredit the opposition that were publishing identical posts from various pages with small time intervals.

Identical posts about the discreditation of the number of protest participants were published on five different pages between 17:01 and 17:36 – Political Sarcasm, “რეალობა” (Reality), “მიხეილ უკრაინოლოგი” (Mikheil Ukrainologue), “სექტაა” (Sect), “ტერენტი გლდანელი” (Terenti Gldaneli).

Same pages were publishing the collage of videos of Nika Melia’s arrest and his statements with intervals of several minutes.

An anti-opposition page („ალტერნატიული სარკაზმი“/Alternative sarcasm), a troll (Ertaoza Qartvelishvili), as well as anti-liberal Facebook accounts („კარდჰუ“/Kardhu, „ბაკურ სვანიძე“/Bakur Svanidze, „კონსერვატიული პლატფორმა“/Conservative platform) sarcastically compared the storming of the UNM office to seizing the Alamut Castle, a historical castle of Assassins. This parallel also appeared in a pro-Kremlin media outlet News-Front through Bakur Svanidze’s personal Facebook account.

Facebook pages that aim to discredit the opposition periodically showed visual manipulations mocking Nika Melia.

Trolls that are stealing other people’s identities

ტროლები, რომლებსაც პროფილის ბმულში შეცვლილი დასახელება აქვთ მითითებული

ტროლები, რომლებიც იდენტობას მალავენ

Old pro-government trolls, exposed by the Media Development Fund in November 2020, were also engaged in the pro-government and anti-opposition campaign as well.