It is regrettable that sections of the Georgian media and non-governmental sector are trying to implement double standards in Georgia. The Communications Commission has been calling for financial transparency from broadcasters and the latter’s compliance with the Law of Georgia on Broadcasting for the past 7 years. In this process, COMCOM has encountered major resistance from some of the same organisations that are now demanding financial transparency from Facebook.

On 29 June, the non-governmental sector and media representatives wrote an open letter to Facebook, calling for detailed information about political advertising from Georgia to be published. More specifically, this concerns the identities of individuals who purchased political adverts, their contact details and the exact amounts spent on each advert.

“In the light of the anonymous, coordinated, sponsored political discrediting process currently taking place in Georgia, members of the public are being misled, thereby losing their freedom of information and capability to formulate their own political opinions, which, according to your own formula, no longer constitutes democracy. We believe that Facebook will side with democracy,” states the open letter.

It is precisely the aforementioned goals that were meant to be served by the 2013 Law on Financial Transparency that has been opposed by certain sections of the media that have now signed the open letter and are trying to implement double standards.

The main goal of the 2013 Law on Financial Transparency of Broadcasters was precisely for the public to be appropriately informed. This law was adopted to ensure that even outside the election campaigning period, the public had access to detailed information about media funding sources, the sums of money channelled by individuals connected to specific political organisations into specific broadcasters, and the identities of those whose interests may be represented by specific media outlets. Viewers must be able to analyse the political stance ofbroadcasters and the influence that the sources of funding might have on this stance, in order to protect themselves from possible manipulation attempts. 

Since 2013, the aforementioned law has been opposed by the then-management of Rustavi-2, which now represents Mtavari Arkhi (Main Channel), the fund for civic education Tabula and the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association.

When COMCOM demanded that broadcasters comply with the Law on Financial Transparency of Broadcasters, a joint appeal against the Commission’s ruling was made in 2013 by the then-management of Rustavi-2 (now representing the Main Channel), Teleimedi, Maestro TV, Europa Plus, Georgian Radio, Studio Maestro and the fund for civic education Tabula. The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association represented some of the aforementioned broadcasters in court.

After a prolonged legal process, the broadcasters lost the case against COMCOM in the Court of First Instance in 2017. Only the then-management of Rustavi-2 decided to continue the legal battle. COMCOM also won the case in the Court of Second Instance and is currently awaiting the ruling of the Supreme Court.

Seven years on, even after two court decisions went against them sections of the media continue to oppose the law and resist transparency. In 2020, shortly after COMCOM won the case in the Court of Second Instance and once again demanded that broadcasters comply with the law, the television company Caucasus submitted a new legal challenge in court. At the same time, Caucasus TV has been calling for financial transparency from Facebook, while resisting the calls to reveal details about its own funding sources to the public.

Although Georgia has often faced criticism from powerful institutions such as the U.S. State Department due to the failure to enforce the aforementioned law, sections of the Georgian media continue to oppose COMCOM’s attempts to enforce the law.

“The 2013 Law on Financial Transparency of the Media is still not being fully enforced,” states the U.S. State Department in its reports for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019, criticising Georgia for failing to fulfil its obligations.