Zviad Adzinbaia

Ph.D. Fellow, International Security & Digital Diplomacy

Zviad Adzinbaia is the Founder and Head of the Digital Diplomacy Task Force – an international initiative to support Ukraine’s efforts to fight Russian disinformation. Zviad leads the Task Force’s ongoing engagement with global social media and technology companies and state and non-state actors seeking to apply international legal norms to official government channels in Russia and globally that spread disinformation and war propaganda.

A Ph.D. scholar of information integrity and technology-enabled democracy at The Fletcher School, he is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of LEADx Change, a multinational senior leadership accelerator in Central and Eastern Europe, in partnership with the Fletcher School’s Security Studies Program and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.

Zviad focuses on finding technology-enabled ways to address disinformation in the Euro-Atlantic area. He argues that the notions of countering disinformation and building resilience should be upgraded to a condition where citizens can afford some junk information in the air and do not panic whenever there is mis-, mal-, or disinformation on the Internet.  He strives to identify or propose information integrity systems that grow following stressors and shocks rather than diminish and weaken.

Zviad collaborates with Microsoft, Google, Meta, DFRLab of the Atlantic Council, German Marshall Fund, Alliance of Democracies, Global Engagement Center of the Department of State, and other leading technology and social media companies, academia, corporate, think tank, and government players in Europe and the United States. Zviad has worked in various roles at the European Parliament, NATO Defense College in Rome, and Sayara International, a Washington D.C.-based global consulting firm.

As part of his 2021-22 Fulbright project, Zviad met and interviewed nearly two hundred technologists, policymakers, industry leaders, scientists, and journalists from Silicon Valley and Seattle to Boston and Washington D.C. to examine his thesis on Temocracy – technology-enabled democracy that he coined in 2018.  During the 2022 summer, Zviad toured Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Brussels, and Copenhagen to engage in disinformation war games and meet with technology and policy leaders to tackle issues related to online information manipulation.

Zviad advises corporate, government, and civilian society institutions on information integrity, target audience analysis, strategic engagement, tech-enabled solutions to conflict matters, and international partnerships. In 2020, Zviad led a digital diplomacy campaign toward ByteDance that led to TikTok’s change of its policy toward Georgia. In 2021, Zviad directed the Eastern European Digital Institute on Nonviolent Civil Resistance, a 5-week intensive program with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict and the Georgian Strategic Analysis Center.

Zviad is a documented Internally Displaced Person from Georgia’s Abkhazia region, which is occupied by Russia. A Master of Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School believes in changing hearts and minds in fragile societies with diplomacy, art, technology, and communication. At age 14, Zviad started his first job as a fish seller in western Georgia. He worked after school and did his English language homework on frozen chicken boxes.

Zviad is passionate about hosting a grand jazz event in his hometown, Gail (Abkhazia) when Georgia is reunited as part of a Europe whole, free and at peace.

Recent Publications

• “Disarming Russia’s Disinformation Arsenal,” The Diplomatic Courier, 2022. https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/disarming-russias-disinformation-arsenal
• “How to Terminate Russian Disinformation,” Center for European Policy Analysis, 2022. https://cepa.org/how-to-terminate-russian-disinformation/
• “Biden Can Save Georgian Democracy, And Why He Should,” Diplomatic Courier, 2021. https://www.diplomaticourier.com/posts/biden-can-save-georgian-democracy-and-why-he-should
• “Temocracy is the Future,” New Europe, 2020. https://www.neweurope.eu/article/temocracy-is-the-future/
• “Responding to Russian Disinformation,” USAID, 2019. http://ewmi-access.org/wp- content/uploads/2019/11/Responding-to-Russian-Disinformation_A-Case-of- Georgia_FINAL_English_13.11.2019.pdf
• “Countering Russia’s Disinformation and Propaganda,” Warsaw Institute, 2019. https://warsawinstitute.org/new-warsaw-institute-book-countering-russias-disinformation-propaganda-georgia/
• “Brussels summit looks to NATO alliance’s future,” New Europe, 2018. https://www.neweurope.eu/article/brussels-summit-looks-nato-alliances-future/
• “NATO in the Black Sea: What to Expect Next?” NATO Defense College, Rome, 2017. https://www.ndc.nato.int/news/news.php?icode=1112
• “Georgia and Ukraine Viewed Through Russia’s Anti-Western Strategy,” The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, 2017. http://www.fletcherforum.org/the-rostrum/2017/12/9/georgia-and-ukraine-viewed-through-russias-anti-western-strategy

Latest Public Appearances

• Keynote Speaker, “Disinformation War Games,” European Hybrid Centre of Excellence, Helsinki, 2022.
• Facilitator, five discussions on technology, democracy, and disinformation with Microsoft, Meta, and New York Times representatives. LEADx Change, 2022.
• Panel Moderator, “Societal Aspects of Building Resilience,” International Conference, The University of Georgia, 2022.
• Campaign Lead, “Freedom Memorandum” submitted to the President of the United States” on behalf of 100 Georgian leaders, 2021.
• Speaker, Public Talk: “Rethinking Disinformation in the Battlefield of Words,” The Fletcher School, Tufts University, 2021
• Host and Moderator, “Democracy, Disinformation, and Geopolitics Panels,” Eastern European Digital Institute on Civil Resistance, 2021.
• Speaker, “Democracy in Limelight: Digital Public Diplomacy and Foreign Affairs,” Digital Communication Network, 2021
• Host and Moderator, “Eurasia, and the West: Engage or Engage,” The Fletcher School, Tufts University, 2021&
• Host and Moderator, “Leadership and Technology Discussions with Leaders from Microsoft, New York Times, and House of Cards,” LEADx Change, 2020.
• Speaker: “Embracing Temocracy: How to Address Anti-Western Disinformation and Promote Democracy,” Transatlantic Policy Symposium, Georgetown University, 2019.
• Luncheon Speaker, “Addressing Russian Disinformation in the Euro-Atlantic Theatre,” The Fletcher School, Tufts University. 2019.
• Speaker, “Rethinking Black Sea Security,” Davis Center, Harvard University, 2019.
• 20+ TV and media appearances on disinformation, democracy, and security, 2019-2021.