Georgia’s Interior Ministry launches new department to combat ‘hate speech’

Georgia’s Interior Ministry has established a new department tasked with combating “hate speech”. According to the ministry, the unit’s primary role will be to monitor and identify content in the public sphere that is insulting, degrading or contains indications of an administrative offence.

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Human rights advocates believe the department’s aim will be to establish broad state control over society.

According to the Interior Ministry, the department will proactively monitor publicly disseminated statements, identify alleged offenders, establish their identities, prepare administrative case materials and draw up the relevant reports. Authorities will then refer the cases to courts of general jurisdiction in accordance with existing rules on jurisdiction.

The ministry says the department will initially employ 10 staff members. It also stresses that the new unit will operate within the framework of existing legislation.

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The SJC predicts that these amendments will be used to suppress and repress critically-minded media outlets.

Mamuka Mdinaradze, one of the leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party, announced the creation of the special hate speech department on 18 May.

According to Mdinaradze, the new body’s main function will be to conduct “systematic monitoring of hate speech, abusive campaigns and aggressive communication in the public sphere, as well as ensure an appropriate legal response”.

Independent lawyers have criticised the initiative, describing it as an attempt to restrict freedom of expression and formalise censorship. Social media users have mockingly dubbed the new unit the “scrolling and screenshotting department”.

Georgia’s new hate speech department