Georgia passes the “foreign influence” law despite weeks of protests
Georgia’s parliament overrode President Salome Zourabichvili’s veto on 28 May 2024 and gave final approval to the “transparency of foreign influence” law. The law requires media outlets and civil-society organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as entities “pursuing the interests of a foreign power.”
The law triggered weeks of mass protests in Tbilisi. Critics compared it to Russia’s “foreign agents” legislation, used to stigmatize and shut down independent media, and the European Union warned it was incompatible with Georgia’s EU candidacy.
For independent Georgian journalism, much of which depends on international grants, the law posed an existential risk: registration entails audits, sanctions and a public label that erodes audience trust.