Donor-funded media platforms in Georgia are increasingly billed as “independent.” It’s a line that plays well in Brussels and Washington, where independence is assumed to mean credibility and neutrality. The bureau launched probes under the new amendments to that law, demanding exhaustive data from NGOs and donor-funded platforms. This goes to the core of democracy: “One person, one vote.” Donor-funded media replace this with “one dollar, one vote.”Many of these outlets do important work. In Tbilisi’s NGO duck pond, reports circulate, get amplified by donor-funded platforms, and are then echoed abroad by international outlets dazzled by slick graphics and seemingly journalistic style. The new grant law may yet chill the press.