Pro-government media in Georgia use fake accounts in campaign against ex-PM
Online campaign against Gharibashvili
State and pro-government media in Georgia are waging an overt campaign against the family of former prime minister Irakli Gharibashvili, who has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “legalising illicit proceeds”.
The methods used in this campaign are detailed in an investigation by the Myth Detector project.
On 13 January, the day Irakli Gharibashvili was detained, government-aligned media platforms — POSTV, Mkhare (mkharе.ge), Ongo, Reportori, InfoPostalioni.com, the Kvira media holding, and General Newspaper — published an identical Facebook post attributed to a certain doctor, Nati Topuria.
The same post appeared that day on Newshub.ge and Region.ge, as well as on the website of Rustavi 2.
In the post, the author describes Gharibashvili as a “corrupt scoundrel” and a “traitor to the country”, calling on his relatives either to “publicly defend their scoundrel” or to remain silent and be grateful that “he received only five years for a serious crime”.
Myth Detector found that the Nati Topuria account is fake: it was created on 27 February 2024 and began posting actively in May 2024, with the aim of discrediting pro-European protests.
Notably, just a few months earlier, the same media outlets had been promoting narratives in support of Irakli Gharibashvili.
