Vice Speaker: UK sanctions on Imedi, POSTV amount to censorship of 40% of Georgian viewers

More than 40% of Georgian viewers trust the television channels Imedi and POSTV combined, Parliament Vice Speaker Nino Tsilosani has said, arguing that the United Kingdom’s decision to impose sanctions on the two broadcasters effectively censored a significant portion of the Georgian public.

In a statement posted on social media on Wednesday, Tsilosani said the sanctions came at a time when around ten major television stations operated in Georgia, including what she described as three “extremely radical” channels, and where viewers were free to choose which outlet to watch.

“More than 40% of Georgian viewers trust Imedi and POSTV combined. By sanctioning these channels, the United Kingdom has effectively censored that many people. All this is happening in a country where up to ten major television stations are functioning, and viewers have a free choice to watch whichever channel they find acceptable,” Tsilosani wrote.

She further claimed that because audiences independently chose their sources of information within Georgia’s media landscape, the UK’s sanctions were directed not at the broadcasters themselves, but at the Georgian people.

“They are aimed at suppressing specific information and depriving citizens of the opportunity to hear and see it,” she said.

Tsilosani compared the move to restricting access in the United Kingdom to major domestic broadcasters, or in Germany to leading public channels, arguing that the sanctions represented an act of censorship.

She also said she would await assessments from the German and British ambassadors regarding what she described as a “disturbing fact of censorship,” adding that concerns over freedom of speech in the United Kingdom had been raised by several international figures.

Tsilosani referenced recent statements by US President Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, entrepreneur Elon Musk, and US Vice President JD Vance regarding free speech and the situation in the United Kingdom.

Concluding her remarks, Tsilosani noted that the statement was made on the Day of Soviet Occupation in Georgia, saying that attempts to suppress free speech in the country had failed even under the harshest regimes.

“Sanctions will not silence the truth in Georgia,” she wrote, expressing support for the “professional journalists” of Imedi and POSTV.