On 5 May, Facebook banned 511 pages, 101 accounts, 122 groups and 56 Instagram accounts engaged in "coordinated inauthentic behaviour" via sharing misinformation about Georgia's domestic politics and the COVID-19 outbreak, reported agenda.ge.
Facebook reported the misinformation efforts in two sections, one detailing accounts, pages, groups and Instagram profiles run by Georgian-based media film Espersona, run by Koka Kandiashvili, a journalist who formerly worked as public relations consultant to the ruling party.
Pages run by the firm posted edited content about the political opposition in Georgia as well as posts positioning government figures in positive light. Some of the pages “posed as independent news outlets“, while individuals behind them used false names and stock images to run fake user profiles, Facebook said.
Responding to the news involving the media firm, Mamuka Mdinaradze, the Georgian parliamentary and member of the political council of the Georgian Dream ruling party, called a press conference in Tbilisi to deny any formal connection or agreement between the government and Kandiashvili. Mdinaradze told reporters Kandiashvili was publicly known to be a Georgian Dream supporter but had no official connection to the party since around 2014.
The second operation unveiled and removed by Facebook involved 23 accounts, 80 pages, 41 groups and 9 Instagram profiles posting about topics such as the 2018 elections in Georgia and candidates involved. Also posting criticism of the government, its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and content aimed at the Georgian Orthodox Church, the pages were traced to “individuals associated with the United National Movement (UNM)” opposition party, according to Facebook.
The UNM responded by releasing a statement that denied operation of the pages and said the UNM found such methods "unacceptable". It also welcomed the removal of pages by Facebook and accused Georgian Dream of releasing fake information and "stoking hatred" in the country.
Besides Georgia, Facebook also banned pages in the US, Russia, Iran, Mauritania and Myanmar.
