Atlantic Council Conducts Research on Georgian Fake Facebook Accounts

The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRlab) has conducted its own research into the use of fake Georgian Facebook accounts to increase persons’ engagement with biased content.

DFRLab says this was a large, brazen network that had multiple layers of fake accounts and automation that systematically posted content with two ideological focuses: support of Bidzina Ivanishvili and his allies; opposition to the United National Movement (UNM) and the local activist organisations.

Graham Brookie, the director and managing editor of DFRLab, says in an interview with Voice of America that the lab studied approximately 260 groups and pages with no personal accounts.

“These groups and pages were publishing content that was directly related to the activities of the Georgian government and they expressed only one position. Based on our capabilities, we can confidently say that it was a coordinated operation”, says Brookie.

DFRLab also asserts that the fake accounts were likewise targeted at discrediting the western partners of Georgia, especially the US.

“This method is of existential importance for the Russian government. The government in Russia tries to gain the support of the public by actively disseminating its biased narratives in media. This is not an open and free society. In Georgia’s case, the network was linked to the government and had its direct support. In democratic society this is unusual”, says Brookie.

Facebook has removed 39 accounts, 344 pages and 13 groups for “coordinated inauthentic behaviour” targeted at Georgian domestic audiences.

But on a platform of two billion users, disinformation campaigns are hard to detect, and Facebook remains a gathering ground for groups eager to spread disinformation to the widest audience possible.

By Elene Dzebisashvili