On October 9, 2025, the Communications Commission issued a written warning to the television broadcasters “Formula” and “Formula Multimedia”, as well as the radio broadcasters “Journalists’ Union Khalkis Khma”, “Radio-TV Nori” and “Systema Gama” and ordered them to cease receiving funding from foreign powers for violating the Law of Georgia “On Broadcasting”.
According to the Commission’s statement: “Based on the fact that the broadcasters have received the above-mentioned funding after the law was amended and funding from foreign powers was prohibited, and the funding cannot be used in exceptional cases specified by law (commercial advertising, teleshopping, sponsorship or product placement in the program)”, the Commission considered the broadcasters to be violators of the law.
This is the first precedent for the enforcement of the law, which concerns the new regulation included in the Law on Broadcasting, which prohibits direct or indirect funding of a broadcaster from a foreign power from April 1, 2025. Since the date of adoption, the amendments have caused public discussion and criticism, in particular, assessments that the new norm may become a tool for restricting the financial and editorial freedom of independent media. During the session, representatives of radio broadcasters noted that without the aforementioned funding, they may have to stop broadcasting.