"Dream" used anti-Western rhetoric in response the international criticism regarding Melia's arrest

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) together with the Media Development Foundation (MDF) published a report on the arrest of United National Movement leader Nika Melia.

According to the investigation, Nika Melia's arrest increased dissemination of anti-Western messages in Georgia.
"MDF media monitoring has shown that in the context of Melia's detention, the anti-Western messages spread by the authorities and the Georgian Dream, and their supporters, as well as Kremlin and anti-liberal groups, were strangely coincidental" the report reads.
The main findings of the research are:
The assessments of Western officials regarding Melia's arrest were followed by critical statements by government officials, the Georgian Dream, and their supporters, which at the same time coincided to some extent with statements by Kremlin and antiliberal actors.

Social and traditional media were dominated by three key anti-Western messages:

The US operates by double standards. The attack on the US Capitol is an example of terrorism and was followed by arrests by law enforcement agencies, and arrests for attempting to invade the Georgian parliament are considered persecution by the opposition;
Western critics of the government are biased / supportive of the UNM.
Lithuanian MP Zhigimantas Pavilionis and Lithuanian Ambassador to Georgia Andrius Kalindra are politically biased;
Anti-Western narratives were also reflected on Facebook. The Kremlin and pro-government anonymous sites capitalized on the "double standard" message, comparing Melia's arrest to capitol-related events.
In addition to anti-Western narratives, pro-government and pro-Georgian Dream anonymous pages portrayed Melia's arrest in the context of the rule of law and the supremacy of justice
Facebook accounts involved in information manipulation related to Melia's arrest, such as Facebook groups, anonymous pages and personal profiles, have become significantly more active. Georgian Dream-discrediting and pro-opposition pages published 30% more posts in the period February 16-28 than in the period February 1-15. On the other hand, the number of posts published by the pages discrediting the opposition and supporting the Georgian Dream has changed at least - it has decreased by 3% over the same period.
Although the number of posts published by the pages in the interests of the Georgian Dream has changed slightly, on February 16-28, compared to the previous two weeks, the number of their interactions increased by 33%.
Unlike pro-government Facebook pages, a smaller-scale campaign was observed on pro-opposition pages. The most common message sent by opposition supporters was a call for street protests after the arrest of Nika Melia and an attempt to mobilize party supporters.
In addition to anonymous pages, non-authentic / fake accounts were also involved in mobilizing opinions on Facebook. The comments made by the fake reports coincided with messages from pro-Georgian dream and anti-opposition pages, as well as from Georgian Dream members and other pro-government actors.

"These groups have used the crisis to attack the US and the EU in order to reinforce the old anti-Western narrative that Washington and Brussels are leading the process in Georgia. "Anonymous pro-opposition sites were also activated, but their number of posts was lower than that of pro-government sites, and their discrediting posts did not have a coordinated character, unlike pro-government and anti-opposition sites," the report reads.