Facebook removed pages linked to pro-Russian forces in Georgia

| News, Georgia

Facebook has taken down pages and groups linked to Alt Info, a violent extremist organisation primarily responsible for organising mass attacks on journalists in Tbilisi last July, and which many believe is funded by Russia.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the social media business made a step that was originally reported by the International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED), a Georgian election monitor. "Along with the current conflict in Ukraine, we are doing everything we can to discourage Russian propaganda and information manipulations concerning the conflict," ISFED posted on Twitter.

"In addition to the presence of Russian military bases on Georgian territory (in South Ossetia and Abkhazia), organised groups of radical ideology, most likely funded by Russia, that actively recruit supporters through social media and public gatherings pose a critical threat to Georgia's state security," according to a statement released by the Tbilisi-based Democracy Research Institute (DRI).

In the interests of Georgia's national security, the Information Integrity Coalition (IIC), a platform comprised of nine organisations including ISFED, Georgia's Reforms Associates, and the Institute for Development of Freedom of Information, has called for a 90-day ban on all Russian propaganda TV channels.

Alt Info's TV station recently spent a significant amount of time talking against pro-NATO objectives for countries like Ukraine and Georgia. Since Russia's incursion, at least two Alt Info offices have been vandalised by unknown persons.

On February 20, Alt Info's anchor and ultra-conservative activist Nikoloz Mzhavanade claimed, "When we are not able to restore our territorial integrity with force, in that case you have to avert a new bloodshed for your country, and now Ukrainians are trying, encouraged by the west, to start large-scale military operations."

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