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Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 thinking andhascontributed toWall Street including onUS,European andChinesestrategic experience intheDanishForeign Service Copenhagen (Denmark).Jonas haslong-standing the AllianceofDemocracies Foundationbasedin Jonas Parello-PlesneristheExecutiveDirectorof (MERICS). Unit attheMercatorInstituteforChinaStudies Executive ManageroftheEuropeanChinaPolicy the ECFRofficeinBerlinaswellfounding directorof Bundestag.Heistheformer German worked formanyyearsinleadingpositionsthe andhas (TCEI). HeisbasedinBerlin(Germany) Transatlantic CommissiononElectionIntegrity of DemocraciesFoundationandcoordinatesthe Olaf BoehnkeistheSeniorAdvisorofAlliance national levels. facilitating democraticactivismonlocaland and civil societygroupsandpoliticalparties, democratic institutions,buildingthecapacityof has beenactivelyinvolvedinstrengthening organizations,Mariam her careeratinternational Texasand Government, A&MUniversity. During Analysis fromtheBushSchoolofPublicService Foundation. SheholdsaMasterofPublicPolicy Fellow withtheAllianceofDemocracies Mariam ChikhladzeistheTCEIElectionIntegrity Authors the About authors. recommendations solelyreflecttheopinionsof andits integrity ofdemocraticelections.Thereport andprotectthe of foreignelectioninterference (TCEI) anditsmissiontohighlighttheglobalthreat Transatlantic CommissiononElectionIntegrity the Foundation,includingactivitiesof as acontributiontothecontinuousworkof Democracies FoundationinDecember2020 Plesner. ItispublishedbyTheAllianceof co-authors areOlafBoehnkeandJonasParello- iswrittenbyMariamChikhladze, This report Disclaimer Danish dailyBerlingske. columnfor Interest andwritesaninternational FinancialTimes,Journal, Newsweek,American Central ElectionCommissionofGeorgia. Archil Talakvadze andhiscabinetaswellthe oftheParliamentGeorgia, to theChairman 2020 electionsinGeorgia.Aspecialthanksgoes ourengagementduringthe aisle, whosupported andcandidatesacrossthepolitical to allparties Finally, wewouldliketoexpress ourappreciation European EndowmentforDemocracy(EED). Foundation, HeinrichBoellandthe for ElectoralSystems(IFES),FriedrichEbert Foundation Republican Institute(IRI),International Democratic Institute(NDI),International and theirfieldoffices,liketheNational organizations partner many ofourinternational We wouldalsoliketoexpressourgratitude of PoliticsandEurope-GeorgiaInstitute. Associates(GRASS),GeorgianInstitute Reforms Transparency Georgia,Georgia’s International (ISFED), MediaDevelopmentFoundation(MDF), Society forFairElectionsandDemocracy elections inGeorgia,especiallytheInternational launch ofourengagementduringthe2020 and thinktankswhocontributedtothesuccessful organizations,foundations non-governmental The authorswouldliketothankthenumerous Acknowledgements © 2020AllianceofDemocracies Foundation Design: NataliaGlonti,Nata Kipiani Jonas Parello-Plesner Authors: MariamChikhladze,OlafBoehnke, Election RiskMonitor:Georgia2020 Alliance ofDemocraciesFoundation Impressum

Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 Contents Back toContents 2 elections intheUS. 2016 andmostrecentlyinthe2020presidential inthe Most publiclyknown,Russiaintervened any maligninterference. todefenddemocracyagainst and governments cooperation andtoolstoempowercivilsociety and applyonthegroundnewmodelsof public awarenessabouttherisksofinterference, decision-makers andinstitutionsworldwide,raise TCEI aimstohelpsharebestpracticesbetween The attempts offoreignelectioninterference. countries aroundtheworldtopreventfurther a morecollectiveapproachbyalldemocratic tech, businessandmedialeadersseektofoster groupofpolitical, transatlantic andbi-partisan elect wasalsoafoundingmember. This Vice-Presidentformer JoeBiden,nowPresident- Commission onElectionIntegrity(TCEI).Then foundedinearly2018theTransatlanticChertoff, ofHomelandSecurity,US Secretary Michael General, AndersFoghRasmussenandformer NATOelections in2016,former Secretary Triggered byRussia’s intheUS intervention challenges posedbyelectionmeddling. technology companiesarescramblingtomeetthe civilsocietyand Democratic governments, 1 spanning 33countriesoverthepastdecade. withmore than100accountsofinterference indemocraticprocesses, $300 millioninterfering such asRussiaandChinahavespentmorethan worldwide.Authoritarianregimes observed This isaglobalphenomenon,withinstances inthedemocraticprocess. people totakepart become amajorthreattotheuniversalrightof has In recentyears,foreignelectioninterference Introduction a diversearrayoftools,includingfinancing as well.Itsplaybookconsistsofemploying similar influenceoperationsinEuropeancountries

Political Interference in Democracies, Democracies, in Interference Political Democracy, Financial Loopholes Exploited by Authoritarians to Fund Fund to Authoritarians by Exploited Loopholes Financial say Iran, Russia have tried to interfere in 2020 election 2020 in interfere to tried have Russia Iran, say Rudolph JoshandMorleyThoomas, Reuters, (October 2020), https://reut.rs/2K3RrFx Menn Josephand N.Lynch Sarah, ( August

2020), https://bit.ly/3mjQi9Q 2 Russia has undertaken Russiahasundertaken U.S. intelligence agencies agencies intelligence U.S. Covert Foreign Money: Money: Foreign Covert Alliance forSecuring , 1

with specific recommendations. concludes engagement inGeorgia,the report media literacytool.Besides evaluatingtheTCEI’s and specifically withthe engagement duringtheGeorgiaelectionsand funding. TheseareasoverlapwiththeTCEI’s Georgian citizens,cybersecurityandparty in socialmedia,thelevelofmedialiteracy examines fourspecificdomains:disinformation persist andrequirepolicyresponses.Thereport which continue to efforts and disinformation key vulnerabilitiesagainstforeignmeddling aim ofthispublicationistoexamineGeorgia’s also strengthenedGeorgianresilience.The direct impact,Russia’s have efforts interference Though itremainsachallengetomeasureits into theirdemocraticinstitutionsandprocesses. theconfidenceofGeorgia’sundermine citizens to test ofhowRussiawouldusethisopportunity were widelyperceivedasyetanotherlitmus Elections In thisregard,the2020Parliamentary becoming amemberofneitherNATO northeEU. influence and,therefore,preventingGeorgiafrom to bedrawingGeorgiabackintoitssphereof ground. TheoverallobjectivefortheKremlinseems and destabilizingthepoliticalsituationon theGeorgiandemocracy aimed atundermining warfare continuous campaignofinformation actions, theKremlinhasbeenengagingina Russo-Georgian conflict.Alongsidedirectmilitary have increasedsignificantlysincethe2008 relations withWestern structures.Russianefforts in reactiontothecountry’s progressivelydeeper constantly strengtheneditssoftpowerinfluence of democracies.Butduringalltheseyears,Russia become areliablememberoftheglobalfamily to followed itspathofdemocratictransformation independence in1991,Georgiahasconsistently Throughout thelastthreedecadessinceits and integrityoftheirdemocraticelections. damage citizens’faithandtrustinthelegitimacy campaignsinorderto online disinformation operations andinparticular, runningmassive outhack-and-leak- and infrastructure,carrying cyber-attacks againstelectionadministrations andpoliticalgroups,undertaking proxy parties The Disinformation Diaries Disinformation The Pledge for Election Integrity Election for Pledge , aTCEI-made

Election Risk Monitor 4 Georgia 2020 very challengingtomeasure thedirectimpactof very monitored andunmasked. Still, itremainstobe wasintensively home-grown disinformation, ofthepre-election period,anditseviltwin, start activities weresomewhatcurbed fromtheearly Russiandisinformation due totheirtirelesseffort, reality andinfluencingvoterbehavior. Largely thataimedatdistorting piece ofdisinformation major addressing andhighlightingalmostevery and organizationsdidaninvaluablejobby fact-checking andmythdebunkingprograms Localsocialmediamonitoring, media platforms. operationswasranonsocial disinformation One ofthekeyfrontlinesincombattingRussian tackle it. aware ofthechallengeandbetterpreparedto than previously, Georgia’s civilsocietywasmore andgroups.Butthisyear,political parties more (allegedly, includingfinancially) itsproxy campaignsandsupporting disinformation andanti-democraticcombination ofanti-western playbook:a applied itstraditionalinterference Euro-Atlantic integrationpath.To thatend,it fromits and thiswaytoderailthecountry into theirdemocraticinstitutionsandprocesses theconfidenceofGeorgia’sundermine citizens to October electionsasanotheropportunity Given thissignificance,Russiaconsideredthe development ofthecountry. successful indicationforapeacefuldemocratic process wouldhavebeenperceivedasa campaign periodaswellintheactualelection reflectedintheelection Such atransformation European-aligned legislatureandgovernment. towards amoretransparent,representativeand personality-driven andpolarizingpoliticalculture theformerly totransform a historicopportunity level –sincetheseelectionswereperceivedas high-domesticallyandontheinternational very Georgians wenttothepolls.Expectationswere Amidst theCOVID-19pandemic,onOctober31, Elections 2020 Parliamentary Georgia’s Key from Observations not achievedanysuccessintheelections have politicalparties Russian andanti-western conclusion seemstobethatallopenlypro- Looking atthefinalelectionresults,overall to beseen. their influenceandreachhasincreased,remains fromtheelectorate,questionwhether support significant they managednottohavegarnered before theelectioncampaignkickedoff.Though onlyshortly Georgian Idearegisteredasparties and movementslikeGeorgianMarch elections. Forinstance,initialpoliticalgroups running foroffice,incomparisontoprevious andcandidates politicalparties and anti-western marked byamuchhighernumberofpro-Russian Elections werealso The 2020Parliamentary on theconcreteresultofelections. versustheirdebunking efforts all disinformation had intended. election dayseemstobeexactlywhattheKremlin rightafter and hostilitybetweenthoseparties thepoliticalstalemate after theelection.Inturn, toactandcompromise the democraticparties election and/orthecredibilityandcapabilityof trustofcitizensinthelegitimacy term thelong- election results,butrathertoundermine strategy doesnotsolelyaimtoinfluenceconcrete having inmind,thattheforeigninterference 3 31, 2020 Parliamentary Elections, https://bit.ly/3neLy6E31, 2020Parliamentary enter parliament. Central ElectionComissionof Georgia, October or 0.43% of the vote, still far fromthe1% threshold neededto did slightlybetterthanGeorgianMarch, winningonly8,263, intopoliticalparty,another farrightgroupturned GeorgianIdea, have failed to be elected too. The fielded throughout the country ballots fortheparty. GeorgianMarch’s majoritariancandidates listvote,withjust4,753peoplecastingtheir the national party four weeksbeforetheelectionday, cameonthe16thplacein demonstrations since 2017 and had launched their political party active withtheirviolentxenophobic,anti-queer, and anti-liberal years. Thefar-right groupGeorgianMarch,whichhasbeen parliament, twoseatslessthantheyoccupiedduringlastfour elections. Itreceivedjust3.14%andsecured 4 seats in the of Patriots worsened their positions in the latest parliamentary of Patriotsworsenedtheirpositionsinthelatestparliamentary The openlypro-KremlinandallegedlyRussianfundedAlliance 3 . But

Election Risk Monitor 5 Georgia 2020 the DemocraticPresidentialcandidate. member Vice-President Biden tookthepledgeas signatures. IntheUnitedStates,TCEI-founding addedtheir where allthreemajorparties extended tothenationalelectionsinCanada European election.InOctober2019,ithadbeen and MEPssignedthePledgebyendof families.179individualcandidates major party bythetopcandidatesofall and wassupported of the2019ElectionstoEuropeanParliament The Pledgewaslaunchedforthefirsttimeahead election season. activitiesduringthe from joiningdisinformation andtheirabstention of foreignelectioninterference tocommittheirrejectionofanykind public platform literacy. ThePledgethereforeoffersadedicated comes totheircybersecuritycapabilitiesormedia littlemeanswhenit of democraciesoftenwithvery by acknowledgingthattheystandatthefrontline togalvanisethemoraldecencyofcandidates serves transparent electoralprocessinthedigitalage.It developed intoaglobalstandardforhealthyand Over thelasttwoyears,TCEIElectionPledge Election IntegrityaheadoftheelectionsinGeorgia. decided inearly2020tolaunchtheirPledgefor Transatlantic CommissiononElectionIntegrity(TCEI) the against foreignelectioninterference, election inGeorgiafindingcommonground To running for alldemocraticparties support Integrity Election The Pledgefor Committing to transparency about the sources of campaign finances. campaign of sources the literacy about media in transparency staff to attacks; prevent campaign Committing and train to actions; and recognise such to security undertake cyber these awareness to risk using maintain proxies and to or avoid steps active messages; third-parties Taking using or disseminate to opponents networks attack bot to of use other the networks impersonate transparent that Making videos; images or fake deep audios/videos including fabricated, doctored candidates, falsified, purposes; were dissemination, that propaganda or Avoiding materials or data disinformation for spread or stolen use or doxed fabricate, to not Committing In particular, by signing this pledge we are: we seek who pledge this those abet signing and by aid not will particular, In we office, seeking democracy. candidates undermine to and parties political As Integrity Election for Pledge The contribution to such monitoring efforts, aswell. contribution tosuchmonitoringefforts, isanother breaching thepledge.Thisreport they wouldwitnessanyinstancesofcandidates incaseswhere society tohelpmonitorandreport andmembersofthecivil Georgian journalists On accountability, theTCEI encouragedboth approached bytheTCEI. sign thePledge,althoughtheyhadbeenalso bydistinctiveKremlinnetworks,didnot support for allegedlyacceptingfinancialcampaign of Georgia,whichhadbeenharshlyscrutinized openly pro-Kremlinparty, theAllianceofPatriots political forcesjoinedtheinitiative.Only candidates signedthePledge.Thus,allmajor andindividual twelve Georgianpoliticalparties Toomas HendrikIlvesandNatalieJaresko- with TCEImembersAndersFoghRasmussen, Georgian Parliament,ArchilTalakvadze together on 30.09.2020featuringtheSpeakerof Election Integrity-includingalaunchevent campaign bytheTransatlantic Commisionon andoutreach Following aninformation about thesourcesofcampaignfinancing. of theelectioncampaigns;andtobetransparent knowledgeable whenitcomestocybersecurity spread messages;tokeeptheirelectionstaff transparent ifautomatedaccountsareusedto messages suchasdeepfakevideos;tobe stolen; nottospreaddoctoredaudioorvideo to useanydatathathasbeenfalsifiedor to runanhonestanddecentcampaignnot The Pledgecallsuponallcandidateswishing

Election Risk Monitor 6 Georgia 2020 result of which the party gainedsixseatsin result ofwhichtheparty success intheOctober2016 election,asa a crucialroleinAllianceofPatriotselectoral narrativeplayed homophobic, andanti-western Patriots politicalparty. Obiektivi’s xenophobic, oftheultra-nationalisticAlliance of its support reliesonRussianfundingin outlet, reportedly and offline.Forexample, anti-Western narrativesand hatespeechonline groups, whichoftenactasvehiclesforspreading media outlets,NGOs,andradicalextremist various proxygroups,suchaspoliticalparties, hassupported news. TheRussiangovernment andfalse by spreadingmassivedisinformation division anddoubtwithintheGeorgiansociety objective istomanipulatepublicopinionandsow social mediainfrastructureinGeorgia,whosekey indirect links to theKremlin have setup a complex dedicated propagandaactorswithdirector democratic development.Inrecentyears, one ofthekeychallengesforGeorgia’s future insocialmediacurrentlyrepresents disinformation elections havebeenaclearproofthat Following thisdefinition,the2020parliamentary 4 democratic politicsandinstitutions.” reality, andunderminingtrustintheintegrityof confusion anduncertaintyaboutfact-based social fragmentationandpolarisation,sowing paralyse thedemocraticprocessbyfuelling information ecosystem.Theobjectiveisto has nowbecomeaviralfeatureofour it isnotlimitedonlytoelectioncycles,but the Kremlin’s interferenceefforts.Importantly, is themostpersistentandwidespreadformof to manipulatepublicopinion.Disinformation misleading narrativesaboutkeyeventsorissues obscure fact-based reality, andmanufacturing audience, pollutingtheinformationspaceto of newscontentaimedatdeceivingan mean “thefabricationordeliberatedistortion of theGeorgianelectionsinthisreport,we When speakingofdisinformationinthecontext in SocialMedia One:Disinformation Part EUvsDisinfo, Disinformation Election Meddling and Pro-Kremlin Pro-Kremlin and Meddling Election , (2019),https://bit.ly/3meTdkd Obiektivi TV Obiektivi 4

, amedia 6 7 The approachtoinstilldespairfocus West causingamoraldegradationofGeorgia. aboutthe Christianityandonatheory Orthodox on theincompatibilityofWestern valueswiththe In regardwiththelatter, theemphasisisplaced, well asthethreatofalossnationalidentity. risk ofwarandsubsequentlossterritories,as uses thedangerofantagonizingRussia, According tothestudy, anti-Western propaganda used by the Kremlin to exert itsinfluenceabroad. used bytheKremlintoexert despair, solutions”. andoffering“alternative during theelections:sowingfear, instilling Western propagandatookathree-tieredapproach Media watchdogorganization confidence indemocracy. polarisation remainshugelydetrimentalforthe tosowdivisions and as domesticactorstrying election period.ThiswasprevalentinGeorgia wasintensifiedinthepre- disinformation, socalledhome-grown disinformation, As mentionedbefore,theeviltwinofforeign Foundation Mir Russkiy Center Institute Public Eurasian Georgian-Russian Primakov organizations areactiveinthecountry, including the legislature.Also,severalpro-Russiancivil 5 largely reliesonFacebookasthemostpopular The Russianonlinepropagandaecosystem Development Foundation (MDF) Foundation Development Georgian iden with Russiaispresentedasawaytoprotect problems. Closereconomicandculturalrelations offered asaputativesolutionforterritorial neutralityare along withpoliticalandmilitary aspiration. Instead,directdialoguewithRussia, belief andconfidenceinGeorgia’s Euro-Atlantic decline intheWest the andaimstoundermine protect Georgia,promotesthenotionofliberal skepticism abouttheWest/NATO’s readinessto Implications for US National Security National US for Implications Assymetric Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Europe: and Russia in Democracy on Assault Assymetric Propaganda Kintsurashvili Tamar and https://bit.ly/2Lu9pBj Ibid. https://bit.ly/37gmEy1 Committee onForeignRelationsUnitedStatesSenate, , MediaDevelopmentFoundation,(2019), tity andensureeconomicstability. and partner organizationsofthe andpartner Gelava , awell-knowninstitution Sopho, Media Media observed thatanti- observed , (January 2018), , (January Anti-Western Anti-Western es on igniting onigniting , the 6 Putin’s Putin’s

7 5

Election Risk Monitor 7 Georgia 2020 aggression among Georgian Facebook users, aggression amongGeorgianFacebookusers, directed towardinstigatingantagonismand messages, spreading pro-Russianandanti-western of accountslinkedwithit.Thisnetworkwas 9 10 8 countries, includingGeorgia. inauthentic behaviourthattargetedmultiple network, engagedincoordinated military-linked In September, FacebookremovedaRussian elections. influence ontheoutcomeofparliamentary played acrucialroleincurbingtheirpotential infrastructure intheearlypre-electionperiod Dismantling theRussiandisinformation amplify anddisseminateRussianpropaganda. operated inacoordinatedmannertoartificially major organisednetworksonFacebookthat checking programsmanagedtouncovertwo oflocalsocialmediamonitoringandfact- efforts insocialmedia.Tirelessdisinformation monitoring first lineofdefenseforcombatingRussian elections werethe The 2020parliamentary andPropaganda Russian Disinformation percent. Instagramwith22 increasingly popularplatform visitFacebook,followedbythe permanently users 94percentofthoseinternet the internet. citizens daily, orseveraltimesaweekaccesses Republican Institute(IRI),72percentofGeorgian According toapollbytheInternational mainstream socialmedianetworkinGeorgia. election periodtoreachouttheirconstituents. were activelyutilizingthesenetworks,inthepre- prevalence ofsocialmediausers,politicalparties users.Knowingthe by only5percentofinternet information agency information Facebook removedtheKremlin’s propagandistic about NATO andgeopolitics. posted aboutnewsandcurrentevents,including fake accountsoffictiouspersonasfrequently Facebook, International SocietyforFairElectionsandDemocracy International International Republican Institute(IRI), International 2020), https://bit.ly/3mjU7fc Monitoring of the Parliamentary Elections 2020 Elections Parliamentary the of Monitoring of the Residents of Georgia of Residents the of ly/3qTftn9 (ISFED), (September 8 Twitter islesswidelyusedinGeorgia The Second Interim Report on the Social Media Media Social the on Report Interim Second The 2020 Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Inauthentic Coordinated Removing ), https://bit.ly/2WbERqa News Front News , (June-July2020),https://bit. 10 Even earlier, inMay,

and a dozen andadozen The network of The networkof Public Opinion Survey Survey Opinion Public , (October 9

, 15 14 13 network, October 10,anewweb-site Elections and Democracy (ISFED) Democracy and Elections throughout Georgia. which amplifiedandspreaddisinformation 12 by inauthenticpersonalaccountsandpages. was disseminatedindozensofFacebookgroups, in Georgiawasdismantled. that false its socialmediamonitoringwithFacebook,found crucial roleincommunicatingtheirfindingsfrom network ofRussianmediaoutlet In latespring,Facebookalsoremovedthe members. open Facebookgroupswithatotalof521,240 on Facebook. messenger havethenbere-sharedandpromoted app, Telegram. Newcontentpublishedonthis directly tothe users Spring). Aclickontheirnewsforwarded polarization. dividing thesocietyandcreatingpolitical 11 and hatespeechisminimallyregulated. few, ifany, restrictions onfreedomofexpression media throughamplification.Georgiamaintains the societyandthenfansflameswithsocial way, Russiaseekstodevelop existingdivisionsin language.This antagonistic anddiscriminatory use xenophobic,homophobicandgenerally, andgroupswho radical nationalistparties discourse, Russiaencouragesthegrowthof As notedearlier, inordertoinfluencepolitical inGeorgia Homegrown Disinformation spring 2020asecondwaveof Kremlin mediaoutlet“ emerged, whichissupposedlyconnectedtopro- ISFED,

Ibid. ly/3lmPNLG and WhatThreatDidTheyContain, (2020),https://bit. On.ge, WhoandWhyGotRemoved FromFacebook hacking andpropagandapurposes by Russiansecurityforces. SU (SovietUnion)-websites,withsuch endingareusedfor ISFED, 2020), https://bit.ly/3mjU7fc Monitoring of the Parliamentary Elections 2020 Elections Parliamentary the of Monitoring Political Polarization, in Georgia and Inauthentic Accounts Accounts Inauthentic it and in Georgia Involved in Polarization, Political Russian Information Operation on Facebook Encouraging Encouraging Facebook on Operation Information Russian The Second Interim Report on the Social Media Media Social the on Report Interim Second The News Front News News Front News 12 AfterFacebook’s takedownofthis 11 , (May2020),https://bit.ly/3ngevit 13 News Front News The

Furthermore, as ISFED noted on asISFEDnotedon Furthermore, International Society for Fair Fair for Society International switched to the messaging switchedtothemessaging content was spread in 31 contentwasspreadin31 Sputnik Georgia Sputnik Russkaya Vesna Russkaya website. https://georgie.su Sputnik , which played a , whichplayeda Sputnik Georgia Sputnik ” (Russian ” (Russian ’s content , (October ’s network 15 14 In

Election Risk Monitor 8 Georgia 2020 17 sexual andethnicminoritiesmanymore. quota mechanismwhichalsoappliestoreligious, genderquotawouldbefollowedbya mandatory NATO like integration,spreadingdisinformation country’s sovereigntyinthelightofGeorgia’s future Georgia’s domesticaffairs,fuelingdoubtsaboutthe in ambassadorsofinterfering accusing western were outpouringfromsuchpagesmassively: and -EU,anti-Turkish andpro-Russiandisinformation Reforms Associates Reforms to somewhereelse. techniques implyredirectingattentionfromRussia falsification ormisrepresentationoffacts,distract techniqueimplies and Dismay),wheredistort Distract, model (Dismiss,Distort, disinformation fallsundertwoofthe 4D’spolitical party of Lab (DFRLab)notes,withthistactic,pro-Russian the AtlanticCouncil’s DigitalForensicResearch as wellsixpoliticaladsonFacebook.As anti-Turkish billboardsinthestreetsofGeorgia published Georgia facesfromRussia,theparty possible attempttodistractattentionfromthreats Turkey asanoccupyingforceforGeorgia.Ina campaignonlineportraying disinformation 19 18 16 parties. pro-Russian andanti-western anti-liberal, antagonistic,anddivisivemessagesby elections wasmarkedbyanintensivespreadof The pre-electionperiodaheadoftheOctober launched anoccupationaccusationonTurkey, period. As outlined in reports fromthe period. Asoutlinedinreports even monthsaheadoftheactualelectioncampaign Facebook pageswereamplifyingtheirmessages the The mostinfluentialpro-Russianpoliticalparty, messages ontheirofficialsocialmediapages. noticed tospreadpro-Russianorultra-nationalist havenotbeen politicalparties Pledge signatory Positively,

Buziashvili Eto, (ISFED), SocietyforFair ElectionsandDemocracy International September-October 2020 September-October Gaphrindashvili PaataandTsitsikashvili Mariam, 2020), https://bit.ly/3mjU7fc Anti-Western Disinformation in the Pre-election Period in in Period Pre-election the in Disinformation Anti-Western https://bit.ly/2Kjnu4a Atlantic Council’s DigitalForensicLab,(September2020), and Religious Tensions Ahead of Parliamentary Elections Parliamentary of Ahead Tensions Religious and Monitoring of the Parliamentary Elections 2020, Elections Parliamentary the of Monitoring Monitoring, ISFED,Dcember9,2020. withNino Rizhamadze,HeadofSocialMedia Interview (GRASS), (December2020),https://bit.ly/2LHK1Ip Alliance of Patriots of Alliance The Second Interim Report on the Social Media Media Social the on Report Interim Second The social media monitors observed that the thatthe social mediamonitorsobserved Georgia’s Pro-Russian Party Provokes Ethnic Ethnic Provokes Party Pro-Russian Georgia’s (GRASS),anti-NATO, anti-US 19 In this case, the party falsely Inthiscase,theparty , Georgia’s Associates Reforms , rananinfamous 16 Dozens of Dozensof Georgia’s Georgia’s (October Disinfometer: Disinfometer: 17 18

campaign. Pro-Russian“ anti-liberal anddivisivemessagesintheir influence activities,activelyspreadanti-Western, aretiedtoRussiaandits Intelligence Service leaders ofwhich,accordingtoEstonianForeign News confrontation.” strife andenmity, orforreligiousethnic territorial integrityofGeorgia,fornational social orderbyviolence,forviolationofthe oftheexistingstateand change oroverthrow propaganda forwarorviolence,appeal that “theelectionprogramshallnotcontain of Georgia“theElectionCode”,whichstates Patriots. Theparty’s violatedoftheorganiclaw Commission ofGeorgiafinedtheAlliance promoted insocialmedia,theCentralElection national hostilityintheirpoliticaladvertisement Based onISFED’s forignitingreligiousor report, Georgian territoriestoday. when actually, Russiaiscontinuouslyfencingoff 21 20 Another politicalparty, Agency NATO relations. and criticismoftheiropponentsGeorgia- Alliance ofPatriotsandGeorgianChoiceparties about commentary Georgia relations,supportive 2020, memesandothercontentaboutRussia- electionsinOctober including theparliamentary in Georgian,aboutnewsandpoliticsGeorgia, Facebook groups.Thenetworkpostedprimarily pages andspreadsometimesfalsecontentin get engagedinotherpeople’s content,manage it usedfakeaccountstocreatefictitiouspersonas, Thepeoplebehind the ex-memberofformer). (thelatterestablishedby Georgian Choiceparty the Kremlin-friendlyAllianceofPatriotsand groups and21Instagramaccountsconnectedto the networkof54accounts,14pages,two early stageofbuildingtheiraudience,itremoved early November, Facebookannouncedthatinan of Patriots’organizednetworkinsocialmedia.In Facebook alsotookactionagainsttheAlliance Facebook, (October 2020),https://bit.ly/3a6vtwf Election CodeofGeorgia,https://bit.ly/347n9sa ” (itsadministratorisconnected toalready ” anditsproxyFacebookpage “ Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Inauthentic Coordinated Removing 20

21 Georgian March Georgian Eurasia - Information Information - Eurasia , Beka Beka ,

Election Risk Monitor 9 Georgia 2020 24 23 Ibid. 25 PBS, users withitsnoregulationofspeech. and disinformation, and disinformation, increased actionstomitigatespreadextremism have world. Whilebigsocialmediaplatforms extremist andconspiracytheoristsfromacrossthe Georgian Idea Idea Georgian social mediainfavourofnationalist network of133assets. March 22 removed pro-Russian political parties: pro-Russian politicalparties: they wereengagedinfavorofthetriumvirate messages inthepre-electioncampaign.Notably, anti-liberalanddivisive spreading anti-western, are dozensofFacebookpagesthathavebeen thatthere Social mediamonitoringobserved of resurrection elsewhere with less regulation. of resurrectionelsewherewithlessregulation. andcapacity malign actorsoftenfindopportunity Thisisyetanothersignal that on theplatforms. lesser degreeFacebookforcurbinghisfreespeech after PresidentTrump accusingTwitter andtoa in theUS,Parlergainedanincreasedfollowing took downGeorgianfar-right group Facebook rightbeforetheelections.Theplatform of suchpageswhosenetworkwasdismantledby media platform media platform social the tendencyandmigratetoalternative Notably, afterthetake-down,Alt-infomightfollow narrative ofpro-Russianpoliticalparties. Georgia andhasbeenaugmentinghostile,divisive contaminating pre-electionpoliticaldiscoursein Alt-Info’s asithasbeen networkwasimportant takedownof Alliance ofPatriots.Nevertheless, GeorgianMarchand and twopoliticalparties: between theprivatecompanybehindpage DFRLabfoundties messages andfalseinformation. immigration, anti-liberal,anti-LGBTandpro-Russian anti- and pagestodisseminateitsanti-western, inauthentic networkofFacebookaccounts,groups, Facebook, 2020), https://bit.ly/3mjU7fc org/349oIWO (October 2020),https://bit.ly/3a6vtwf Monitoring of the Parliamentary Elections 2020 Elections Parliamentary the of Monitoring Rein in Misinformation in Rein (ISFED), SocietyforFair ElectionsandDemocracy International . Right-wing Users Flock to Parler as Social Media Giants Giants Media Social as Parler to Flock Users Right-wing 22

New Front Georgia Front New The Second Interim Report on the Social Media Media Social the on Report Interim Second The Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior Inauthentic Coordinated Removing and the Parler Parler , (December2020),https://to.pbs. , anewhavenforfar-right 24 Alliance of Patriots of Alliance Alt-Info was using an Alt-Infowasusingan attracted right-wing attractedright-wing Georgian March, March, Georgian ) wereengagedin Alt-Info Georgian Georgian 25 Similarly, , (October . 23 ’s ’s One One , media too. those commentarieswereactivelypostedinsocial such asTV, MDF’s Tamar Kintsurashvilinotesthat are drawnfrommainstreammediamonitoring March andGeorgianIdea. Georgian was followedbyultranationalistparties foraneutralforeignpolicy. support garnering It toward Georgia’s integrationintothealliance,and frequently targetingNATO toprovokeskepticism stemming fromtheAllianceofPatriotsparty, most messageswere Idea. Themajorityofanti-western Georgian March,FreeGeorgiaand after theAllianceofPatriots,weremadeby 29 28 stories, includingoneofthemostdebatedand has beendiversearrayactualdomesticpolitical Thecontentonthesepages political parties. opposition and theirinteractionssupporting islargerthanthenumberofposts ruling party their interactionsincombinationfavorof Not surprising,thatnumberofpostsand language homophobic, andothertypeofdiscriminatory xenophobic, were championinganti-western, the samegroupofpro-Russianpoliticalparties’ in thepre-electionperiodandfoundthatexactly andhatespeechinmainstreammedia western parties gainedmoreinteractionoverall. parties more. However, pagestargetingopposition andrulingparty,against thegovernment posted In thepre-electionperiod,discreditingpages against rulingoroppositionpoliticalparties. campaigns inanorganizedmannereither of dozenspagesareconductingsmear thatnetworks opponents. ISFEDobserved discrediting campaignsagainstpolitical Pre-election periodwasmarkedwithintensified anti-democratic practiceinGeorgiansocialmedia. anonymous socialmediapages,isanotorious Political discreditingcampaigns,runby Smear Campaigns:TheWar ofAllAgainstall The 27 26

2020), https://bit.ly/3mjU7fc (ISFED), SocietyforFairElectionsandDemocracy International Development Foundation,December 4,2020 Monitoring of the Parliamentary Elections 2020 Elections Parliamentary the of Monitoring 2020), https://bit.ly/37YfXzH Interview Kintsurashvili Ibid Fake News Fake Media Development Fund Fund Development Media 26 The Second Interim Report on the Social Media Media Social the on Report Interim Second The withTamar Kintsurashvili,DirectorofMedia 28 - majority of discriminatory remarks, remarks, -majorityofdiscriminatory , MediaDevelopmentFoundation,(October

Tamar, Anti-Western Messages, Hate Speech, Speech, Hate Messages, Anti-Western 27 Despite these findings Despite thesefindings researched theanti- , (October 29

10 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 31 a relevantdisclaimer. too pejorativetopublishevenaccompaniedby remains intheorganization’s achieveastheyare mostly sexistandhomophobicinitsnature, abound. Largeamountofdoctoredmaterials, noted thatexamplesofsuchmanipulatedcontent media campaign.ISFED’s NinoRizhamadze themselvescan’tparties useintheirofficialsocial photos, videos,anddiscreditinglanguage,that of aparty, usesuchindecenttacticsasdoctored theinterest actors, whoareanonymouslyserving polarization.Thesethird-party and createfurther political opponent,deependivisioninthesociety usetheirproxiestodamagetheimageof parties social mediaactivitiesdemonstratethatpolitical Mostly anonymousdiscreditingpagesandtheir evidence ofwhichwillrequiredeeperresearch. operation, a well-disguisedRussianinformation thiscasebearsthetraitsof Georgian experts, Please 30 ISFED, inGeorgiathat launched itsPoliticalAdLibrary In theleaduptoOctoberelections,Facebook Political AdsonFacebook case”. polarizing “Cartographers’ of thePledge’s adaptationtolocalpractices. update when itcomestoapotentialandnecessary this aspectmoreindepthandtakeitintoaccount for suchpractices,yet.ButtheTCEIwillevaluate TCEI PledgeforElectionIntegritydonotaccount using indecenttactics.Thefiveprinciplesofthe opponents arenotattackedthoughproxiesby run ethicalelectioncampaignswherepolitical willandcommitmentto lies inpoliticalparties’ The potentialtoaddressdiscreditingcampaigns messages andmanipulatingwiththem. byamplifyingthese actorstointerfere external for campaigns provideagoodopportunity voters, anddeepenspolarization.Also,smear campaigns contaminatepublicdiscourse,mislead in thepre-electionperiod,suchdiscrediting for contaminatingpoliticaldiscourse.Especially avoidtheresponsibility proxies, politicalparties campaigns do.Byutilizingnetworkoftheir the samewayasforeigndisinformation practice challengestheintegrityofelections

2020), https://bit.ly/3mjU7fc. Monitoring of the Parliamentary Elections 2020 Elections Parliamentary the of Monitoring Interview readaboutthecasehere:https://bit.ly/3ngVwEG The Third Interim Report on the Social Media Media Social the on Report Interim Third The withNinoRizhamadze, ISFED, 31 Thisutterlydetrimental 30 Formany , (December 34 33 the Facebook’s adslibrary. not beendisputedandaresearchablein have halted, whiletherestof268reports disclaimers. However, only36adswere toFacebookasimproper were reported pagesAll propagandisticanddisinformation discrediting the ruling party discrediting therulingparty some contentwasalsosponsoredonpages on pagesdiscreditingtheopposition,while that themajorityofpoliticaladswereposted from 42pages.ISFED’s monitoringshowed 304 non-declaredadsonFacebookcoming During thecampaignperiod,ISFEDdiscovered nondeclared ornotsufficientlydeclared. tobe perpetrators. Someofthemwereobserved pages, falsemediapagesandotherdisinformation Facebookpages,politicaldiscrediting support party Notably, politicaladsweredeployedby established bynow. between ISFEDandFacebookhasalreadybeen communicationchannels problem, anecessary issues andlackofresources,buttoaddressthis other factorsplayingarole,suchaslanguage their identity, foolingFacebook.Theremightbe possible thatphysicalentitiesarefalsifying submitted byaphysicalorlegalentity. Itis acceptingface-valuethedeclarationsplatform to TCEIthatthereasonforthismightbe media director, NinoRizhamadze,explained has been partially ineffectiveandinsufficient. has beenpartially andFacebook’sinformation handlingofthisissue anonymously, declaration missingnecessary ofthepoliticaladsweredeployed finds, thatpart on GoogleandYouTube adsavailable.ISFED on FacebookandInstagram. Thereisnodata spent morethanUSD759,240onpoliticalads andcandidates 31, 2020),politicalparties In thepre-electionperiod(September1-October content andtraceitssources. allows theuserstoidentifysponsoredpolitical 32 ISFED,

Monitoring, ISFED, Dcember9,2020. with Nino Rizhamadze,HeadofSocialMedia Interview Ibid ly/3mjU7fc and Dcember2020),https://bit.ly/3mjU7fc &https://bit. Media Monitoring of the Parliamentary Elections 2020 Elections Parliamentary the of Monitoring Media The Second and the Third Interim Reports on the Social Social the on Reports Interim Third the and Second The 34

33 Georgian Dream Georgian ISFED’s social , (October , (October 32 .

11 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 37 36 35 threat tofreeandfairelections. asamajor citizens considereddisinformation In thepre-electionperiod,onlypercentof educationsystem. literacy elementsintheformal responsibility toinstitutionalizeconcretemedia hasaprimary to beaddressed.Thegovernment Georgia remainsamajorchallengewhichneeds general levelofpublicdigitalmedialiteracyin regions inhabitedbynationalminorities.The majority ofthepopulation,especiallyin long astheirworkdoesnottrickledowntothe However, havelimitedimpact as theirefforts able totacklethetacticsmaliciousactorsutilize. organizations aremoreawareofandbetter and democraticprocesses.Nowadays,local anditseffectsonelectoral disinformation raising publicawarenessregardingforeign Civil societyhasbeenactivelyinvolvedin Two:Part MediaLiteracy in ruralareastendtobemoreEurosceptic. attitudes, thepoor, theelderly, andthoseliving Westernurbanities demonstrateoverwhelmingly the moreeducated,younger, andbetteroff The existingpollingdatashowsthatwhile processes bythemajorityofvoters. adequately perceivedasathreattodemocratic predominantly takesplaceinFacebook,isnot insocialmedia,which seems thatdisinformation democratic institutions, such as political parties, democratic institutions,suchaspoliticalparties, poll revealslowlevelofconfidenceinkey Moreover,Russian disinformation. IRI’s same taken forgranted,especiallyifcombinedwith seems stableatthismoment,itshouldnotbe membership. ThoughGeorgia’s Western choice totheEUandNATO80 percentofsupport Polling datashowsGeorgia’s stable,around networks, primarilyFacebook(94percent). fromsocialmedia receiveinformation internet, majority ofvoterswhouse overwhelming

Caucasus ResearchResourceCenter (CRRCGeorgia), Georgia (December 2018), https://bit.ly/2Kp67P7 ly/3qTftn9 International RepublicanInstitute(IRI), International Countering Anti-Western Propaganda in Social Media Social in Propaganda Anti-Western Countering National DemocraticInstitute(NDI), of the Residents of Georgia of Residents the of , (August2020),https://bit.ly/3qWfkzh , (June-July2020),https://bit. Public Attitudes in in Attitudes Public 35 Public Opinion Survey Survey Opinion Public Whenthe 37 36 ,

It Fund (MDF) has launched the Online platform Fund (MDF)has launchedtheOnlineplatform and dataprivacyissues.The MediaDevelopment propaganda,cyber hygiene, false information, in creating knowledge about disinformation, effort Local civil-societyorganizations arealsoputting times sinceitslaunch. organizations, wasplayed acoupleofhundred research with Facebook andlocaldisinformation prior totheelectionsandthroughpartnering democratic elections.Thegamewaslaunched anddeepfakeon effect ofdisinformation tool, whichpracticallyshowsthedevastating Diaries” into Georgian.Thisisamedialiteracy and adaptingitsonlinegame“Disinformation bytranslating modest contributiontothiseffort Commission onElectionIntegrityoffereda Foundation undertheauspicesofTransatlantic in Georgia.TheAllianceofDemocracies especially thoserepresentingnationalminorities be usedineducatingyoungergenerationand toolsthatcould creation ofteachingandlearning andfar-sightedimportant investmentwouldbe Along withresearchandmonitoring,themost and mechanisms. combattingtools to enhancetheirdisinformation importantly, withsocialmediacompanies partner share experienceandmethodologiesmost closely intouchwiththeirWestern colleaguesto experience intheserecentyears.Theyarealso organizations haveamassedconsiderable Essentially,spread ontheplatform. civilsociety fact-checkerstotacklemisinformation third-party Georgia’s Associates(GRASS)asthe Reforms Foundation and hostedbyMediaDevelopment Detector platform withlocalMyth in Georgiaandpartnered even expandeditsfact-checkingprogram and mythdebunking.InSeptember, Facebook are conductingrigoroussocialmediamonitoring To addressthisissue,civilsocietyorganizations social media. operations seektosowwhentheypenetrate trajectory, isexactlywhatthedisinformation and thequestioningofGeorgia’s democratic Declineoftrustindemocraticinstitutions courts. the parliament,CentralElectionCommissionand

Factcheck.ge programrunby 12 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 against disinformation and foreign meddling. andforeignmeddling. against disinformation would strengthenGeorgiansociety’s resilience Overcoming themistrustandbuildingcooperation collaborationbetweenthem. systemic, long-term do. However, thebreachbetweentwo,prevents whilenon-stateorganizations disinformation, structureormethodologytocounter internal isperceivednottohaveacohesive government society thebroadergoalcannotbereached.The andcivil cooperation betweenthegovernment however,created platform, withoutcrosssectoral educating studentsandteachersusingthe in Although theMDFisputtingalotofeffort specific interestsbehindamediaoutlet. andhowtoestablish to verifyfakeinformation functioning ofmediainademocraticsociety, how givesyoungadultsknowledgeaboutthe platform anddeconstructionoffakenews.The information media content,collectionandverificationof that developtheskillsforacriticalanalysisof exercises, andcasestudiesfrommediapractices, combineseducationalmaterial,games, platform mediaconsumption.The informed supporting at developingcriticalthinkinginyouthand educational resourceaimed which isanancillary LiteracyLab(MilLab) of MediaandInformation from theOccupiedTerritories, Labor, Health and DisplacedPersons ofInternally Georgian Ministry out anattackagainstthecomputersystemof 2020, unknownforeignmaliciousactorscarried about theelectionsecurity, too.OnSeptember1, subversive operations,whichraisedconcerns has stillbecomethetargetofseveralhigh-profile electionphase,Georgia the 2020parliamentary ofcriticalinfrastructureduring attack onthispart Though theTCEIhasnotwitnessedamajorcyber- of anelectiondepends. infrastructure onwhichtheintegrityandvalidity are anintegralcomponentofacountries’critical election commissionsaswellthoseofparties elections, thewebsitesanddatabasesofnational defense capability. Most importantly, intimesof of thisthreatandincreasetheirawareness tobefullyaware forpoliticalparties important for disinformation purposes. for disinformation be trueorfabricated),whicharethenused classifieddocuments(whichcan purportedly isthehackingandleakingof warfare example, acommontacticininformation activities.For or indirectlytodisinformation operations. Itcouldalsobelinkeddirectly resilience againsthybridthreatsandsubversive Cyber defenseisavitalcomponentofthe of Georgiaandpoliticalparties. will concentrateontheCentralElectionCommission thisreport detail exceedsthescopeofthisreport, Assessing Georgia’s cyberdefensecapabilitiesin resist Russia’s potentialcyberintrusionefforts. raised regardingGeorgia’s readinesstoeffectively havebeen elections2020,concerns parliamentary country’s lackofresilience.Inintherunupto clear footprintinGeorgiaandhasalsorevealedthe objectives. Russiancyberdisruptionshavelefta achievingarangeof signature forcovertly oftheKremlin’sSuch subversiveactionsarepart offensive tacticsofforeignelectioninterference. Cyber disruptionandcyber-attacks belongtothe Three: CyberSecurity Part 38 (February 2020), https://bit.ly/3gLnxSw (February Understanding Russian Subversion Russian Understanding Radin Andrew, DemusAlyssaandMarcienekKrystyna, 38 , RandCorporation, Thatiswhyit 13 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 42 stream ofatleasttwomajortelevisionstations. Italsointerruptedthebroadcast local governments. and the websitesofPresident,severalcourts andprivately-runwebsites,including government disrupted operationsofseveralthousandGeorgian which directlyaffectedtheGeorgianpopulation, 43 41 40 39 known as Center forSpecialTechnologies (GTsST, also foreign-intelligence agency(GRU)andtheMain websites werecarriedoutbyRussia’s largest disruptive cyber-attack onseveralGeorgian Earlier, onOctober28,2019,alarge-scale Public HealthResearch. including thoseoftheRichardG.LugarCenterfor anditsunits, in thedatabasesofMinistry stored access pandemicmanagementinformation Social Affairs.Theattackattemptedtoillegally disinformation campaigns. disinformation had beenconstantlytargetedbyvigorousRussian people andsavelives.Notably, theLugar Center helping toprotectthehealthofGeorgian role inGeorgia’s responsetotheoutbreak, pandemic, theLugarCenterhasplayedavital Georgia. destabilizecountries,including or otherwise retaliateagainst, toundermine, efforts government Russian intrusions andattacksintendedtosupport in 2019.Theywereengagedcomputer and awide-rangingwebsitedefacementcampaign compromise thenetworkofParliamentGeorgia, to six RussianGRUofficersfortheseefforts ofJusticecharged 2020, theUSDepartment systems andstateinstitutions.LaterinOctober Georgiansecurity objective wastoundermine In total,15,000websiteswereshutdown.The manipulative descriptions. with documents appearondifferentplatforms BBC News, 2020), https://bit.ly/37XWDTj COVID-19 and Russian disinformation Russian and COVID-19 (October 2020),https://bit.ly/2WbNYHo Malware and Other Disruptive Actions in Cyber Space, Cyber in Actions Disruptive Other and Malware The Department ofJustice, The Department 2019), https://bbc.in/3qV0vwU in Connection with Worldwide Deployment of Destructive Destructive of Deployment Worldwide with Connection in Cockerell Isobel, Dcember 2020,https://bit.ly/37XH4uV Manipulatively SpreadDocumentsLeakedfromLugarLab, Myth Detector, Troll andKremlin-affiliatedJournalist September 9,2020,https://bit.ly/3oLt2Di AffairsofGeorgia, ofInternal Statement oftheMinistry 43 Unit 74455 Unit

Georgia Hit By Massive Cyber-Attack Massive By Hit Georgia A US-funded lab in Tbilisi, Georgia fights fights Georgia Tbilisi, in lab US-funded A or Six Russsian GRU Officers Charged Charged Officers GRU Russsian Six 39 Sandworm Sincetheattack,leaked 40 41 DuringtheCOVID-19 , (CodaStory, March ). The incident, ). Theincident, , (October,

46 Even iftheleakeddatainitselfwasobsolete elections betterprotectedthaneverbefore. updates, theCECmanagedtomake2020 sponsored actors’cyber-attacks butduetorecent noted, itishardtodefendthesystemfromstate SecurityManager,Information IrakliTvalishvili, attacks engineeredbynon-stateactors.Asthe multivendor securitymeasurestopreventcyber- Center.Server Thisnewcenterensuresmultilevel, attacks, theCECestablishedaCybersecurity measures. To increaseitsresilienceagainstcyber- stillrequireprotective confidential information exchangeof website aswelltheinternal protocolsandthe system, voterslists,summary doesnotutilizeanelectronic voting the country enhance itscybersecuritycapabilities.Although elections, theCECintroducedmeasuresto In theleadupto2020parliamentary security. key figuresinchargeofensuringCEC’s cyber SecuritySpecialistarethetwo the Information its dutyonlyin2015.Thispositionaswell SecurityManagercommenced first Information Securityin2012.However,Information the sincetheadoptionof the Lawon the country (CEC) belongstothecriticalinfrastructureof The CentralElectionCommissionofGeorgia The CentralElectionCommissionofGeorgia 45 Agenda.ge, 44 phone numbers. IDnumbers,andmobile addresses, datesofbirth, suchasfullnames,home personal information published onahackingforumandincluded MDB (MicrosoftAccessdatabase)filehadbeen prior totheOctoberpolls.Theleaked1.04GB – includingdeceasedcitizens-sevenmonths details ofmorethan4.9millionGeorgians elections wereraisedaftertheleakofpersonal aboutthesecurityof2020 Still, concerns had leaked around 2011 but surfaced in2020. had leakedaround2011butsurfaced 2011 Causes Confusion in 2020 in Confusion Causes 2011 Included Deceased Individuals Deceased Included Buziashvili EtoandKaranKanishk, ly/37Ye5He Forensic Lab,(April 2020),https://bit.ly/3nttSVf 25, 2020 Manager, CentralElectionComissionofGeorgia, November Security withIrakliTvaliashvili,Information Interview Hackers Publish Record of Georgian Voters, Voters, Georgian of Record Publish Hackers 45 Itappearedthatthedatabase , (March2020),https://bit. , AtlanticCouncil’s Digital GeorgiaLeaks: Data from from Data GeorgiaLeaks: 44

14 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 democratic process. thetrustin elections, andthiswayundermined about theintegrityaswellsecurityof towards theCEC,fuelledconfusionamongvoters of Georgiansmighthavedecreasedthetrust ofmillions disclosing thepersonalinformation this year’s elections,thefactthatitwasleaked and thiswayhadbeenuselessforinfluencing interests thatalignwithRussia’s. who aren’t necessarilypro-Kremlin, butdohave with anexplicitlypro-Russianagendaandthose two kindofgroupspoliticalactors:those policy stance.Essentially, Russiadoessupport they aren’t explicitlypro-Russian intheirforeign Russia’s politicaloreconomicinterests,evenif to number ofpoliticalgroupsthataresupportive Georgia, Russiahasidentifiedandleverageda For influencingdomesticpoliticaloutcomesin agenda.” judgedtobenefittheKremlin’swhose platform orcandidate electoral successforagivenparty andincreasethechancesof order) tosupport institution withoutdirectlinkstotheKremlin(in election campaign,typicallythroughaproxy or party provision offundingtoaparticular orcovert addressed toRussia-means“theovert of foreignelectionmeddling–herespecifically financinginthecontext Campaign andparty Finance Campaign Four: Part 47 EUvsDisinfo, financial resourcespersevered: TheAlliance of thesegroupsgrantedwithrelativelysustainable political groupsoverthelastyears,however, one has witnessedaconstantriseandfallofsuch Georgia. ThepoliticallandscapeinGeorgia in liberal orethno-nationalistpoliticalparties andanti- openly pro-Kremlinpoliticalparties narratives havebeenactivelyfosteredbyeither to theintegrationintoNATO andtheEU.Such Russia andthenotionofneutralityasopposed narratives: advantageofthenegotiationwith topromotealternative by theopportunity period. Theiremergencewasmainlyconditioned coincides withthepostAugustWar (2008) emergence ofpro-Russianpoliticalparties In Georgia,sincetheRoseRevolution, division anddestabilization. potential ofcausingthelargestdegreesocietal Kremlin alsofocusesongroupswhichhavethe 48 Disinformation (February 2020), https://bit.ly/3gLnxSw (February Understanding Russian Subversion Russian Understanding Radin Andrew, DemusAlyssaandMarcienekKrystyna, 47 Election Meddling and Pro-Kremlin Pro-Kremlin and Meddling Election , (2019),https://bit.ly/3meTdkd , RandCorporation, 48 Finally, the 15 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 Audit office as the issue pertained party finance. party Audit officeastheissuepertained the POhandedinvestigationovertoState inGeorgia’spotential directinterference elections, the Prosecutor’s Office (PO)toinvestigateRussia’s to therequestbyoppositionMPEleneKhoshtaria investigation. However, onAugust31,inresponse Georgia’s lawenforcementbodiescouldlaunchan onillicitfinances, publicly availableinformation and regionaloffices,mediacampaignetc. campaign expenses,includingcostsofcentral USD 8,430,625budgetproposaltocoverparty’s Reportedly, theAllianceofPatriotssubmitteda 53 Intrepresnews.ge, 52 51 50 49 elections. of Patriotsintherun-uptoparliamentary $8 millionelectioncampaignfortheAlliance hadcraftedan that Russiansecurityservices Khodorkovsky releasedadocumentalleging oiltop-managerMikhail the exiledformer organization, DossierCenter, ownedby before theOctoberelections,London-based On August24and31,2020twomonths Foreign Funding elections inGeorgia. inthe2020parliamentary of Russianinterference seemstobeanexample openly pro-Russianparty of Patriots.Theallegedforeignfundingthis shall bepunished. thestateinterestsofGeorgia, to undermine by aforeignstateinhostileactivitiesthatintend foreign organisationorancontrolled 319),assistancebyaforeigncountry,(Article According totheCriminalCodeofGeorgia goal tocounteractso-called“colorrevolutions”. byVladimirPutinin2005withtheinitial formed and CulturalContactswithForeignCountries, Presidential DirectorateforInterregionalRelations ofthe (SVR)andcurrentlytheChairman Service GeneraloftheForeignIntelligence former Patriots hasbeeninstructedbyVladimirChernov, Ibid. the Audit Service Audit the financing of the Patriots Alliance and redirected the case to to case the redirected and Alliance Patriots the of financing Prosecutor's Coda Story, (August2020),https://bit.ly/3gNkHfx Kiparoidze Mariam andPatin Katia, of Neighboring Countries, (2020) https://bit.ly/349vRX8 https://bit.ly/349vRX8 (2020) Countries, Neighboring of Georgia, Neighboring in Party Political Behind Money Russian Criminal CodeofGeorgia,https://bit.ly/3oOOVBL Dossier Center, 49 The report saysthattheAllianceof Thereport

Office refused to launch an investigation into the the into investigation an launch to refused Office How the Kremlin Interferes in the Internal Politics Politics Internal the in Interferes Kremlin the How , (August,2020), https://bit.ly/3a90uQ0 According to Elene Khoshtaria, the the Khoshtaria, Elene to According 52 Based on this article and and Basedonthisarticle Investigation Alledges Alledges Investigation 53 51 50

55 foreign physicalorlegalentities. prohibited fromreceivingendowments are Political AssociationsofCitizens,parties According totheOrganicLawofGeorgiaon onpoliticalsubjectdonations. of norms validationforviolation sanctions afteracourt campaign financeandhasauthoritytoimpose bodyresponsiblefor overseeing the primary by assigningittotheStateAuditOffice.Itis ofthecase Office downgradedtheimportance widelyassessthattheProsecutor’sExperts announcement. the StateSecurityOfficehasnotmadeanypublic breeding publicdiscontent.However, tothisday, smear campaignsagainsttheiropponentsand voters,run up envyandgreedamongordinary includedfueling that instructionsfortheparty of Georgia.Dossier’s investigationreported interestfortheStateSecurityService particular elections, shouldhavebecomethesubjectof country’s affairs,particularly, internal national Notably, inthe thepotentialinterference 54 it alsosuggeststheevidenceofapotential received forcampaignexpenses,butbecause potential USD$8milliondonationtheparty ofa duetoitsreport are notonlyimportant The revealeddocumentsbyDossierCenter Foreign In-kindContributions not haveenforcementcapability. of thelaunchinvestigation,officedoes out inappropriatelyorincompletelyandincase have thecapacitytoreactondeclarationsfilled incomeandexpenditures,butitdoesnot party State AuditOfficecanvetofficiallydeclared financeviolations.The investigation ofparty for theProsecutor’s Office(PO)oncriminal the StateAuditOfficeshallpreparereports law againstviolatorsoftheOrganicLaw. financing, andultimately, effectivelyenforcethe to effectivelyinvestigatecorruptcampaign lack ofauthoritychallengestheOffice’s ability

Chikhladze GigiandKakhidzeTamar, https://bit.ly/383XH8f Organic LawofGeorgiaonPolitical AssociationsofCtizens, Transparency Internationa Georgia Internationa Transparency bit.ly/3ac7A6n in Georgia’s 2020 Parliamentary Elections, Interim Report, Report, Interim Elections, Parliamentary 2020 Georgia’s in , (October, 2020),https:// 55 54 Campaign Finances Finances Campaign Overall,its Ifviolated, 16 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 57 Notably, charge ofcampaigncommunicationissues. a Russianpoliticalstrategist,whowasin 56 Politsecrets, research. likeopposition support valuable information operation(suchasresearch)or information made socialmediamanipulation,non-financial liketailor- trips toRussiaandc)mediaservices borrowed €11million),b)fundingofexpensive banks (MarineLePen’s NationalFrontparty candidates areidentified:a)loansfromRussian of foreignin-kindcontributionstocampaignsand institutional bottleneck.Threedifferentexamples are encouragedtotaketheadvantageofthis inadequate oversightandenforcement,parties Pledge forElectionIntegrity. However, basedon was alsooneoftheprinciplesinElection all intangiblecontributionstheyreceive.This needtodeclare enforced. Politicalparties Georgian legislature,butnotadequately in-kind contributionwhichisregulatedin campaign. totheparty’s support information election South” havebeeninstructedtoproviderelevant REGNUM, andthepoliticalcenter“North- such as“SputnikGeorgia”,“EurAsiaDaily”, and crimerates.Finally, Russianmediaagencies, infographics depictingproblemsindemography campaign videosfortheAllianceofPatriotswith Russian interference intotheGeorgianelection Russian interference substantiated, provideclearevidenceof In anutshell,theleakeddocuments,if bytheMoscow-basedcompany support, receivedmediaandcommunication the party intheirelectioncampaign.Furthermore, party political technologisttoadviseandinstructthe office hiredSergeyMikheev, aKremlin-associated contributions, too.Morespecifically, Chernov’s Alliance ofPatriotsreceivedanumberin-kind According totheleakeddocuments,

Political Interference in Democracies, Democracies, in Interference Political Democracy, Financial Loopholes Exploited by Authoritarians to Fund Fund to Authoritarians by Exploited Loopholes Financial ly/349vRX8 Politics of Neighboring Countries, (2020) https://bit. (2020) Countries, Neighboring of Politics Dossier Center, Rudolph JoshandMorleyThoomas, 56 Politsecrets 57

headed byVera Blashenkova,

(August How the Kremlin Interferes in the Internal Internal the in Interferes Kremlin the How

2020), https://bit.ly/3mjQi9Q hadalreadyprepared Covert Foreign Money: Money: Foreign Covert Alliance forSecuring needs tobeincluded,addsLevanNatroshvili. process,Georgia’ssuch areform system court outcriminalinvestigations.Tocarry complete out notonlyadministrativeproceedings,butalso should beequippedwiththeauthoritytocarry This body(incontrasttotheStateAuditOffice) Bureau,ortheState Audit Office. Civil Service currently carriedoutbytheStateSecurityService, would unitethevariousanti-corruptionfunctions of anindependentanti-corruptionbody, which Georgiaadvocatesforthecreation International political willtoaddresssuchissues.Transparency demonstratestheirlackof Georgian government notes, theimproperhandlingofcaseby Georgia’sInternational LevanNatroshvili attempt.AsTransparencyforeign interference already putinplacetoactuponandinvestigate process. Anumberoflegalmechanismswas 17 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 Election Integrityfromitslaunchofthe experience oftheTransatlantic Commissionon to democracy. itsummarizedthe Furthermore, thisglobalthreat outlets andothersconcerning media organizations, socialmediaplatforms, the keyfindingsfromvariousnon-governmental others, thisElectionRiskMonitoraimedtogather monitoring missionsliketheOSCE,EUor arena gomostlyuncoveredbyphysicalelection inthedigital of foreignelectioninterference is notfelt.Thedeteriorating leveloftrustinto electorate, itdoesnotmean thattheirinfluence fromthe election didnotgainsignificantsupport inthis politicalparties Russian andanti-western been takendownbyFacebook.Thoughallpro- could belocatedinRussiaandconsequentlyhad activities groups linkedtomaligndisinformation Plenty ofsocialmediaaccounts,pagesand orindividualsignatory.breach byaparty and theTCEIcouldnotidentifyanyflagrant majority ofpoliticalactorsduringtheelections, This invitationhadbeenacceptedwidelybythe themselves fromallattemptsofforeignmeddling. this goldenstandardandinwaydistance in theGeorgianelectiontocommitpublicly election pledgeinvitedallcandidatesandparties environment. Basedonthisfundament,theTCEI andtheirsupporting all candidates,parties speech, transparencyandaccountabilityof is stronglybasedonthreepillars:freedomof In theopinionofTCEI,electionintegrity Election Integrity Election 58 (...).“ reported and publicsectoremployeeswaswidely supporters competitive butintimidationofparty mostly respectedinacampaignthatwaslargely competitive and(…)fundamentalfreedomswere that “Georgia’s electionswere parliamentary the OSCEelectionmonitordelegationconcluded In itspost-electionstatementaftertheelections, Conclusions Diaries October 2020 October Observation Mission Georgia – Parliamentary Elections, 31 31 Elections, Parliamentary – Georgia Mission Observation OSCE Parliamentary Assmebly,OSCE Parliamentary -online game. , https://bit.ly/3niJ72W 58 Since the tactics and patterns Sincethetacticsandpatterns aswell International Election Election International The Disinformation Disinformation The Pledge for for Pledge watchdog ISFEDargues. this issue“ineffectiveandinsufficient”,aslocal sponsored adsonFacebook,whichhandled discrediting orfalsemediapageswererunning manyofsuch activities.Furthermore, disinformation grey zonebetweenforeignanddomestic photos andvideosconstitutedadangerous proxies, thesepagessharedplentyofdoctored the Georgiansocialmediaenvironment.Runby organizationsin activists, andnon-governmental aswellthemedia,civilsociety opposition parties and againstbothgovernment of disinformation Facebook pagesmanifestedasevereelement Unethical smearcampaignsonanonymous authorities ismostlymissing. society organizationsandgovernmental activecivil cooperation betweenthesevery and socialmediacampaigns.Unfortunately, to helpidentifyingmalignforeignnetworks watchdogwebsites Facebook orinternational like withallsocialmediaplatforms partnered their findings.Additionally, theseorganizations fact-checking andregularpublicassessmentsof of checksandbalancesbyprovidingreal-time They contributedtostrengthentheexistingsystem and electionmediawatchdogsinGeorgia. organisations vast numberofnon-governmental against foreignmeddlingwasplayedbythe roleinprotectingtheseelections important A very order topromotepolarizationinsociety. in bytheRussiangovernment indirectly supported directlyor narratives comingfromparties seems tobeamplifiedbypopularanti-democratic Georgia’s and democraticinstitutionsisalarming 59 ISFED, candidates andstaffers’media literacy. training/assistance onincreasing political ofconsistent,comprehensive areshort parties the existenceofdeepfakevideos.Also,political bytheTCEIhadnotheardabout interviewed For instance,amajorityofsocialmediausers the contextof2020electionsinGeorgia. knowledge havebeenidentifiedbytheTCEIin When itcomestomedialiteracy, majorgapsin 2020), https://bit.ly/3mjU7fc Monitoring of the Parliamentary Elections 2020 Elections Parliamentary the of Monitoring The Third Interim Reports on the Social Media Media Social the on Reports Interim Third The 59 , (December 18 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 integrity oftheirdemocraticinstitutions. but alsothetrustofGeorgiancitizensinto the credibilityofGeorgiangovernment will orawareness,whichrisksnotonlytoweaken lackofpolitical institutions yetrevealsaharmful anditsresponsibleexecutive government and investigatedproperlybytheGeorgian casewasnotaddressed that thisparticular into theGeorgianelections.Again,fact the strongestevidenceofforeigninterference theAllianceofPatriots,constitute supported which directlyandindirectlyfunded anditsproxynetworks, Russian government Center outliningthefinancialtiesbetween Finally, thedocumentsrevealedbyDossier vulnerable toforeignmaliciouscyber-attacks. media organizations,watchdogNGOshighly public andcivicinstitutionslikepoliticalparties, capacities ofthecountry. Thiswayitleaves leads toadangerouslackofcyberdefense approach increasingitscyberresilience, to investsubstantialresourcesintoaholistic of willingnessbytheGeorgiangovernment defense capabilities.However, theobviouslack toincreasetheircyber meaningful efforts the CentralElectionCommissionhastaken institutionsandespecially Major government following recommendations: democratic elections,wewouldliketopresentthe examples howtoimprovetheintegrityof constantly growingnumberofbestpractice with otherelectionsinrecentyearsandthe Election RiskMonitor. Comparingthesefindings fromthe2020electionsinthis observations In thecaseofGeorgia,TCEIconcludedits parliamentarism, too. pillars ofelectionintegritybutdemocratic and accountabilitynotonlyconstitutethecore parliament. Transparency, freedomofspeech integrity oftheirdemocraciesafterentering responsibility todefendandstrengthenthe the roletopayspecialattentionandtake running foroffice.Theyshouldalsotakeon line ofdemocracyandelectionintegritywhen Parliamentarians notonlystandatthefront Recommendations 60 • Georgia, cooperate with Georgian non-governmental cooperate withGeorgiannon-governmental working ontheissuesofdisinformation, ResearchService independent Parliamentary researchcapacitiesbyintroducing an internal but notleast,Parliamentshouldincreaseits Last the recommendationsoffinalreport. plan inParliamenthowitintendstoimplement shouldpresentaconcreteaction government the Georgian election meddling.Furthermore, increase Georgia’s resilienceagainst foreign andconcretemeasuresto Russian interference systematically thevulnerabilitytowards shouldbecontinuedbyexamining This effort Securing the “guardian role” of the Georgian Georgian the of role” “guardian the Securing to Address Anti-Western Disinformation and Propaganda in in Propaganda and Disinformation Anti-Western Address to final report of the inquiry backin2019. oftheinquiry final report and Propaganda,whichcommissionedits GrouponDisinformation Thematic Inquiry legislature establishedthefirstmulti-party parliament: democracy. The9 it comestotheintegrityofGeorgian more activelywithinthepoliticalsystemwhen to exerciseitsoversightandcontrolfunction The ParliamentofGeorgia, (2019),https://bit.ly/34nDR6F TheParliamentofGeorgianeeds th convocationofGeorgian The Strengthening State Policy Policy State Strengthening The 60

19 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 • • • • election interference, was the cooperation and wasthecooperationand election interference, of thiselectionandthecapability tocurb against resilience civil expand and Continue literacy media digital of level the Improving and oversight of system the Strengthening needs tobeconcludedpromptlyandeffectively. Alliance ofPatriots’allegedforeignfunding quickly. Theongoinginvestigationofthe immediately andifwarranted,prosecuted equipped toensuresuchcasesareinvestigated needstobebetter Audit Officeinparticular in generalneedstoberevisedandtheState criminal cases,thesystemoflawenforcement capacity oftheStateAuditOfficetoinvestigate election interference: election disinformation and interference election on of funding foreign and illegal on prosecution cyber resilienceinthefuture. elementforGeorgia’simportant enhanced issues publicrecommendationscouldbean fromothercountriesand lessons learns and investigatescyber-attacks, evaluates Georgia’s tech-savvycivilsociety-thattracks board –whichcouldincluderepresentativesof capacities. Thecreationofaninvestigative holistic approachtolevelupitscyberdefense ofGeorgianeedstodevelopa government institutions bystateandnon-stateactors,the of foreigncyber-attacks onGeorgianstate different agegroupsandsegmentsofsociety. actively onlinemedialiteracytoolsdesignedfor morepro- society organizationsshouldsupport andcivil Facebook, boththegovernment wide-spread usageofsocialmedialike penetration ofGeorgiancitizensandthe Strengthening state cyber defense capacities capacities defense cyber state Strengthening ofCongress. Bundestag ortheU.S.Library oftheGerman Dienst (ResearchService) would beinspiredfromtheWissenschaftlicher democratic countriesworldwide.Thisaction practices ofpolicysolutionsadoptedbyother organizations, andbrieflegislatorsonbest in Georgia: in finances: party of Georgia: of Given the high level of internet Giventhehighlevelofinternet Giventheextensivetrack-record Given the lack of authority and Giventhelackofauthorityand one of the hallmarks oneofthehallmarks • new breath of transparency into politics. new breathoftransparencyintopolitics. strongandhassecureda community isvery from countrieslikeTaiwan, whereacivictech inspiration forGeorgia’s civilsocietycancome in democraticinstitutionsisdeclining.Further sorely neededinatimewheregeneraltrust democratic integritymorebroadly. Thisis future electionsbutalsotoprotectGeorgia’s vital andneedstobemaintainednotonlyfor Thisworkis mentioned throughoutthisreport. growth ofstrongcivilsocietyorganizationsas Social Media platforms should continue to to continue should platforms Media Social improve transparency and cooperation around around cooperation and transparency improve English and disinformation in other languages. inotherlanguages. English anddisinformation dedicating resourcestolanguagesbeyond facein difficulties socialmediaplatforms undisclosed ads.Thisalsohighlightsthe aboutproblematicor civil societyalerting and a lackofresponsivenessto ad library improvements intheFacebookpolitical On theotherhand,therearedemandsfor cooperation wasalsoinitiatedbyFacebook. Additionally, alocalfact-checkerorganization downs ofcoordinatedinauthenticbehavior. media organizationsleadingtonumeroustake- good jobpriortotheelectionswithlocalsocial elections: elections: Facebook is rated to have done a Facebook isratedtohavedonea 20 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 across theglobeandrunsthreeprograms: advancement ofdemocracyandfreemarkets democracy. The Foundationisdedicatedtothe world’s leading“megaphone”forthecauseof Democracies Foundationistobecomethe of Denmark.ThevisiontheAlliance PrimeMinister Generalandformer Secretary NATOAnders Fogh Rasmussen,theformer non-profit organizationfoundedin2017by The AllianceofDemocraciesFoundationisa Democracies Foundation Allianceof the About interference. Election Integritythatworks topreventelection includes theTransatlantic Commission on for dissidents.Theprogram moral support online presence,mediaengagement,and for thecauseofdemocracythrough intellectualmovement builds apowerful ofdemocracyworldwideand supporters The CampaignforDemocracyengages The CampaignforDemocracy locally driveneconomicgrowth. is tosolidifyat-riskdemocraciesthrough democracy andentrepreneurship.Thepurpose the universalappealandpotentialof democracies andpost-conflictareas,proving entrepreneurial projectsinemerging successful The programsupports between technologyanddemocraticnorms. well asaforumforanalysisontheinterplay challenges facingthedemocraticworldas for analysisonthesecurityandeconomic forum Summit istobethetopinternational from theworld’s democracies.Thegoalofthe headsofgovernment, current andformer political andbusinessleaders,including An annualconferencebringingtogether The CopenhagenDemocracySummit The Expeditionary EconomicsProgram The Expeditionary information, whoshouldrepresentthem. information, people decidefreely, based onindependent the privatesectorwithonesharedgoal:toensure persons frombackgroundsinpolitics,mediaand TCEI bringstogethermorethanadozeneminent and solutionstocombatforeignmeddling.The globalvoiceandplayerontherisks important its launch,theTCEIhasestablisheditselfasan Since democracy againstmaligninterference. todefend empower civilsocietyandgovernments models ofcooperationandtechnologiesto andapplyonthegroundnew of interference, globe, raisepublicawarenessabouttherisks decision-makers andinstitutionsacrossthe seeks tohelpsharebestpracticesbetween Transatlantic innature,theTCEI andbipartisan Democracy SummitinJune2018. meetingtookplaceattheCopenhagen plenary (TCEI) waslaunchedinearly2018,itsfirst The Transatlantic CommissiononElectionIntegrity Integrity Commission onElection Transatlantic the About 21 Election Risk Monitor Georgia 2020 It is important to us to be available to our partners, potential supporters, and the public. 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