Georgia’s ruling party Sec Gen highlights need to counter hate speech

Kakha Kaladze, the Mayor of Tbilisi and Secretary General of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday said that hate speech is not an appropriate form of communication and that a special unit has been established to address the issue and deliver tangible results.

Responding to journalists’ questions about hate speech on social media, Kaladze noted that no reasonable person supports the use of profanity or insulting others.

He further added that the encouragement of such behavior is imposed from abroad, with significant financial resources being spent for that purpose.

“If we observe the trend, hate speech, polarisation, attempts to create confrontation, organising revolutions, and the creation and encouragement of violent groups are all imposed from abroad, and hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on these activities over the years”, Kaladze said.

The Mayor explained that a dedicated unit has been established to tackle the issue and expressed confidence that it would produce results.

“Hate speech is not the right form of communication. You may dislike someone or disagree with what they have done, but that does not mean you should physically or verbally insult them. That is why a special unit was created to work in this direction. It will take some time, but we will certainly see results”, Kaladze concluded.