Georgia: Telegram's Rise as Kremlin Propaganda Tool

Georgian-language Telegram channels increasingly amplified Kremlin-backed malign influence operations focused on women’s rights and “family values” ahead of the 2024 elections, reinforcing pro-Russian narratives among their target audience.

An investigation supported by IWPR identified nearly 20 channels that strategically spread propaganda linked to sensitive topics to deepen societal division. Such narratives were often echoed or even repeated by leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, further amplifying their reach.

Telegram is a cloud-based instant messaging platform known for its speed, security and strong focus on privacy. Users can send text and voice messages as well as multimedia files and make voice and video calls; another feature is its ability to host large group chats and curated broadcast channels.

A significant portion of the analysed posts claimed that feminism was a Western import that negatively affected Georgian society. A recurring theme was the 2024 Paris Olympics, an event at which organisers said that for the first time in Olympic history, more than half of the medal events would be open to female athletes.

Indeed, the scenography of the Olympics’ opening ceremony was repeatedly shared across these Telegram channels as supposed evidence that family values—across all ages and religions—were being equally undermined.

Demography and divorce were also key topics. According to official statistics, Georgia’s birth rate is declining year on year, while the number of deaths continues to surpass births.

One of the primary factors contributing to the population decline is emigration. In 2022 alone, more than 100,000 people aged 15 to 64 left Georgia.

However, the propaganda channels attribute the country’s demographic challenges not to emigration but to an alleged “attack on family values” and gender politics.

As for divorce, the Telegram channels blame liberal economic, political, and ideological structures for the fact that there were 13,664 divorces in Georgia in 2023.

Propagandists often draw comparisons with the Soviet era, stating that during the rule of Georgian Soviet politician Vasil Mzhavanadze from 1953 to 1972 “the divorce rate was only two per cent, whereas today it stands at 70 per cent”.

The education system is also a frequent target, with one recurring concern the supposed negative impact of introducing sex education in schools. There has also been a persistent demand to reinstate icons and crosses in classrooms, despite the fact that, in most schools, such religious symbols were never removed.

These messages often mirror the messaging of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party. GD leaders were also frequently quoted on the channels, further amplifying these narratives and reinforcing their influence.

Keti Murgulia, a researcher at Georgia’s Democracy Research Institute think tank, said that this kind of rhetoric reflected a global trend in recent decades.

“The key goal of this trend is to cause a crisis in democracy,” she continued. “In Georgia, together with far-right groups, the GD party effectively sows irrational fears related to gender in society and then transforms these fears into a lever of political power.”

Amplification

Russian propaganda researcher Sopho Gelava confirmed that the migration of pro-Russia actors to Telegram in Georgia was driven by two main factors: the platform’s minimal content moderation and policy changes on Facebook - the country’s most popular social network - which increasingly restricted propaganda and disinformation.

“For example, on Facebook, you often need to undergo a process of verification, especially if someone reports your account,” she said. “This limits the work of malicious actors and is frequently an obstacle for them.”

The 17 channels identified had a combined subscriber base exceeding 62,000 represents a significant figure, considering Telegram’s disproportional impact.

A 2024 study published by Cornell University that analysed a vast database of over seven million Telegram comments and messages found that its unique characteristics meant that disinformation could be significantly more effective than on other platforms.

It showed that users were unlikely to distinguish propaganda accounts from authentic outlets. And while the pro-Russian accounts often did not have large numbers of followers, they very effectively amplified each other’s content to create the illusion of widespread consensus.

One of the Telegram channels - which has more than 11,000 subscribers - is run by the pro-Russian conservative movement Alt-Info, which participated in the 2024 parliamentary elections as part of the electoral list of the Alliance of Patriots, but failed to pass the five per cent threshold.

In December 2024, the US Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions on two of AltInfo’s founders, Zurab Makharadze and Konstantin Morgoshia. Both were added to the global Magnitsky list, which initially targeted Russian officials accused of human rights violations and corruption.

Murgulia argued that politics in Georgia was “clearly moving towards autocracy, using anti-gender propaganda to maintain power and to constrain democratic spaces in the country.

“This trend has become especially noticeable with the Russia-Ukraine war, which has intensified the tendency to isolate from the West and accelerate a new political and economic turn towards Russia."