Georgian parliament supports advertising company Alma’s appeal to ban hateful ads
Alma announced that it will ‘not put up hate speech banners’ and addressed the Georgian parliament with an initiative to ban hateful advertisements on October 3. Photo: Parliament of Georgia.
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The Georgian parliament’s committee on legal affairs has supported the appeal of advertising company Alma to ban hateful advertisements earlier today.
Based on Alma’s legislative proposal, the electoral code or other legislative acts should be amended in order to restrict or prohibit the placement of hate speech banners in self-governing cities and municipalities.
The ruling party MP and chairman of the committee on legal affairs Anri Okhanashvili has stated that he supports the ‘idea, concept and content’ of the proposal, however, noted that ‘the legislative proposal is not presented in the form of a bill.’
This issue will be regulated only during the pre-election process or beyond it, this will be revealed as a result of the discussion,” Okhanashvili said.
Opposition MP Levan Ioseliani from Citizens party also supports the proposal, however, states that ‘the bill should be prepared with broad involvement’ of political parties.
What legislative framework needs to be found in order not to undermine freedom of expression needs to be the subject of more extensive consultations between Georgian Dream [ruling party] and the opposition,” said Ioseliani.
Anti-opposition billboards appeared in Tbilisi on September 17 ahead of the October 2 municipal elections which depicted opposition political leaders and managers of opposition-minded TV channels as ‘bloody.’
Despite the several complaints filed in the Central Election Commission (CEC) over the billboards, the CEC found no legal basis for drawing up a violation report on the placement of anti-opposition banners.
Alma addressed the parliament on October 3 regarding the issue of ‘hate speech banners’ and asked ‘to enable the agencies to legitimately refuse to provide advertising services to the customers’ in such cases.
The opposition European Georgia party has demanded advertising company Alma to put up their banners which depicted the billionaire and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili as a pig earlier today, however, the advertising company has not commented on the matter.
Advertising company Alma has announced that it will ‘not put up hate speech banners’ and addressed the Georgian parliament with an initiative to ban hateful advertisements. Billboards depicting the opposition as ‘bloody’ appeared on September 17 in Tbilisi ahead of the October 2 municipal elections which depicted opposition political leaders, including former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and the media managers of two opposition-minded TV channels Nika Gvaramia and Nodar Meladze from Mtavari Arkhi and TV Pirveli.
The Georgian State Audit Office has launched an investigation to find out who stands behind ‘bloody’ billboards depicting opposition politicians. The billboards depicting opposition politicians, including ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili, ex-Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia and UNM mayoral candidate Nika Melia, say: ‘No to Natsis [a short, often derogatory form of the opposition UNM), No to evil, No to betrayal’.
Political movement Droa leader Elene Khoshtaria, who is the united opposition’s joint candidate for the City Council (Sakrebulo) chair in the upcoming local elections, has filed a complaint in the Central Election Commission (CEC) over billboards which portray opposition politicians as ‘bloody.’ The billboards feature opposition political leaders, including former Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia who resigned earlier this year and the media managers of two opposition-minded TV channels Nika Gvaramia and Nodar Meladze from Mtavari Arkhi and TV Pirveli which reads: ‘No to Natsis (referring to the largest opposition United National Movement (UNM) party), No to evil, No to betrayal.’
The opposition European Georgia party has demanded advertising company Alma put up their banners and to fulfil the terms of their contract. European Georgia wants to place the banners where the billionaire and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili is depicted as a pig. The billboard calls on Georgian citizens ‘not to become an animal farm and stop being understanding’ in a reference to the George Orwell novel Animal Farm.
The European Georgia opposition party sues advertising company Alma for violation of the terms of their contract and refusal to put up the party’s banners. European Georgia wanted to display banners in which the billionaire and founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, is depicted as a pig. The billboard calls on Georgian citizens ‘not to become an animal farm’, a reference to the George Orwell novel Animal Farm.