Gov’t to create police unit to monitor hate speech and aggressive communication

Georgia’s Interior Ministry will establish a special unit tasked with monitoring hate speech, insulting campaigns and aggressive communication in public spaces, Vice Prime Minister Mamuka Mdinaradze said on Monday.

Speaking at a briefing, Mdinaradze said the decision followed what he described as “detailed and substantive consultations” with the Interior Ministry and Interior Minister. According to him, the new division will operate within the ministry and will be created “in the shortest possible time”.

He said the body’s main role would be the systematic monitoring of public communication containing hate speech, incitement to hostility, insults or attacks on personal dignity, as well as initiating legal responses where necessary.

Mdinaradze said the agency would work proactively, meaning its actions would not depend solely on complaints filed by citizens. Instead, the unit would independently monitor public discourse, prepare legal assessments and, if required, refer cases directly to the courts.

The vice prime minister argued that the state had an obligation to create an environment in which differing opinions were protected, while the encouragement of hatred, hostility and offensive rhetoric remained unacceptable.

He linked the initiative to earlier remarks by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, who had previously called for the opening of what he described as a broader space for public debate. Mdinaradze claimed that, for years, “external actors” had sought to limit pluralism and constructive discussion in Georgia, while encouraging confrontation and polarisation.

According to Mdinaradze, offensive and aggressive rhetoric had increasingly become a standard feature of both political and social life in the country, prompting the government to move towards stricter monitoring and legal enforcement measures.