GD Moves to Cover Online Media by Restrictive Amendments to the Broadcasting Law

The restrictive amendments to the country’s Law on Broadcasting will also cover online media, Archil Gorduladze, the chairman of the rump parliament’s Legal Issues Committee said on March 17. The GD Parliament adopted the amendments in the first reading on March 4.

Gorduladze said, “As technologies are being refined and developed, and information is being disseminated by various means, legislative changes must take all this into account.”

He added that the definition of “Internet services” will be amended to include the provision of “mass information in Georgia’s official language through internet domain or internet hosting, in the applications or the third-person information-sharing platforms, including social media.” According to Gorduladze, the “provider of internet services” will be defined as “a broadcaster or a person who owns solely or uses in conjunction with others internet domain or internet hosting to mass-distribute information in Georgia’s official language.”

Legislative amendments, which the GD claims are modeled on British legislation, aim to ban foreign funding for the media and increase state control over broadcast content. Local civil society organizations warned that the amendments would dismantle Georgia’s critical media and stifle dissent.

Update: Late on March 17, GD parliamentary majority leader Mamuka Mdinaradze said that the amendments would affect broadcasters’ online websites and social networks. Speaking at a briefing following the GD majority meeting, Mdinaradze contradicted statements made earlier in the day by Archil Gorduladze and said that the amendments would not affect online media. With two readings still to come, it remains to be seen what the final amendments will look like.

This news was updated at 21:00 to include the comment on the matter made by Mamuka Mdinaradze.

Also Read:

• 12/03/2025 – Initiated Amendments to Law on Broadcasting Threaten Freedom of Media and Expression, SJC Warns
• 26/02/2025 – TI Georgia: New Restrictive Legislation Aims to Destroy Critical TV Channels
• 25/02/2025 – GD Moves to Ban Foreign Funding of Broadcasters, Give Sweeping Powers to Communications Commission to Regulate Content

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