Georgian authorities are using vague administrative offenses to jail or heavily fine people for online speech, according to Human Rights Watch. Since June 2026, a specialized Ministry of Internal Affairs unit has monitored social media and referred hundreds of posts to courts under charges such as profanity and insult.
## Social Media Monitoring Unit Targets Critics
The crackdown intensified after June 1, 2026, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs established a Division for Combating Hate Speech. The unit reviews public statements across the press and social media for content it considers degrading, insulting, or hateful toward officials.
By August 1, 2026, the ministry reported that the division had identified and submitted approximately 300 alleged administrative offenses involving expression in public spaces to courts. Courts have already completed roughly 130 of those cases, issuing administrative fines or detention sentences.
Human Rights Watch criticized the unit’s focus, noting that international standards distinguish incitement to violence, discrimination, or hostility from speech that merely shocks or insults. Crude language does not remove expression from basic human rights protections.
## Sentences Handed Down in Tbilisi Courts
In July 2026, courts jailed a journalist and an activist for online statements targeting public figures.
On July 22, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Vakho Sanaia, a journalist and anchor at the government-critical broadcaster Formula TV, to 14 days in detention. The penalty stemmed from a Facebook post referencing Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili and lawmaker Vladimir Bozhadze in terms courts deemed disparaging.
Sanaia had already been fined 6,000 Georgian lari—approximately US$2,200—twelve days prior over separate Facebook posts concerning the same officials. Following that initial fine, Sanaia posted that he had been penalized for telling people not to use crude terms against the two politicians, adding his own defiant commentary. A Ministry of Internal Affairs representative stated that authorities pursued detention because Sanaia demonstrated his intention to continue his conduct despite the prior court ruling.
Two days after Sanaia’s sentencing, the Tbilisi City Court jailed physician and activist Giorgi Akhobadze for 25 days over statements directed at public officials and a police officer.
Akhobadze’s defense attorney, Mikheil Zakareishvili, stated that police delivered a massive volume of photographic and video evidence to the defense team just 27 minutes before the hearing. The court rejected a defense request for additional time to review the files. Zakareishvili disputed that the police evidence established any legal offense, maintaining that the remarks constituted legitimate criticism of factual events.
## Expansion of Administrative Offense Laws
The prosecutions rely heavily on broad legislative modifications enacted by parliament in February 2025, which introduced article 173(16) to Georgia’s Code of Administrative Offenses.
The provision penalizes verbal abuse, swearing, persistent insult, and other offensive actions directed at state and public officials performing their duties. Offenses carry fines ranging from 1,500 to 4,000 lari—roughly US$550 to $1,500—or up to 45 days of administrative detention. Repeat offenses carry fines between 2,500 and 6,000 lari or detention ranging from 5 to 60 days.
Authorities have also utilized article 166 of the code, a traditional statute governing petty hooliganism in public spaces, to police online speech.
On September 10, 2026, activist and blogger Tornike Razmadze received notice that police opened profanity proceedings against him under article 166(1). The case involved a Facebook comment left beneath a video where Razmadze compared remarks made by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to statements by Russian propagandists Margarita Simonyan and Vladimir Solovyov.
While the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that Razmadze was accused of insulting Kobakhidze, Razmadze countered that his online comment referred directly to Simonyan and Solovyov rather than the prime minister.
## International Observers Warn of Chilling Effect
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights previously criticized the statutory language behind the prosecutions. The office concluded that terms such as “verbal abuse” and “offensive actions” lacked clear definitions, creating subjective standards that fail requirements of legality and foreseeability.
Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, warned that deploying detention and substantial fines for nonviolent expression threatens basic freedoms.
“The government does not have to like crude or offensive speech, but it cannot use that as a shortcut to jail its critics,” Williamson said. “Georgia should end detention for peaceful expression, repeal its repressive restrictions on speech, and restore space for people to criticize those in power without fear of punishment.”
