Georgian courts have fined at least two people for offensive Facebook posts targeting Bera Ivanishvili, the son of Bidzina Ivanishvili, the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party.
The number of such cases has risen sharply since June 1, when a new department within the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) began operating, established to combat so-called online hate speech.
One of the most recent hearings took place on July 3 at the Tbilisi City Court. The court fined Giorgi Gogia 3,000 lari (about $1,100), finding him guilty of petty hooliganism for a post insulting Bera Ivanishvili. Materials regarding his social media activity were submitted to the court by the MIA.
The case was triggered by a caption that, according to investigators, Gogia added to a shared news card about Bera Ivanishvili. The news article itself reported that Bera, who lives abroad, stated that if he met a Georgian citizen in the US, he would not take their political views into account when deciding whether or not to help them.
In response, a crude, offensive caption appeared under the post, referencing an audio recording leaked in 2021. In the recording, a man with a voice resembling Bera Ivanishvili’s allegedly asks former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili to punish people who had insulted him on Facebook. The ruling party denied the authenticity of the recording. The exact date of the recording was never established, but it is believed to have been made before Garibashvili’s second term as prime minister.
During the trial, Gogia’s lawyer, Mikheil Zakarashvili, stated that his client “neither confirmed nor denied” writing the post.
Earlier, on June 30, the court also fined exiled civil activist Nata Peradze for a post about Bera Ivanishvili. A day earlier, another activist, Tamar Giorgadze, was fined for using profanity against Bidzina Ivanishvili. Both were also found guilty of petty hooliganism.
According to the MIA, during its first month of operation, the new department identified 170 alleged administrative offenses and forwarded 150 cases to the courts. Rulings have already been handed down in 33 cases: fines were imposed in 31 instances, while the remaining two resulted in verbal warnings.
As the Georgian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) notes, courts across the country hear several such cases daily, with some sessions lasting only a few minutes.
Fines are being handed out to social media users who insult both government officials and opposition politicians. Notably, a complaint from the insulted individual is not required. When the unit was established, the MIA stated that it would operate “proactively,” identifying such posts on its own.
Critics describe the new department’s work as an expansion of state censorship. In their view, the authorities are tightening control over citizens’ online speech. For their part, government officials argue that the unit has already proven its effectiveness, with the number of offensive social media posts decreasing noticeably.
The department’s operations have raised other questions as well. In particular, Gogia’s lawyer questioned how the MIA determined that the disputed Facebook profile actually belonged to his client, given that many people in Georgia share the same first and last name, and the page featured no photos of the owner.
According to RFE/RL, an MIA representative responded in court that the author’s identity was established by examining the Facebook profile of Gogia’s brother. According to the ministry, this is what allowed them to conclude that the disputed account belonged to the individual who was subsequently summoned to court.
Notably, when hearing such cases, Georgian courts most frequently apply two articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses: petty hooliganism and insulting a state or political official. The latter provision was introduced into the legislation only in February 2025.
