Poland’s Minister of Digital Affairs accuses social media platforms of tolerating Russian disinformation and threatens them with financial penalties

Poland’s Digitalization Minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski, accused social media platforms on Wednesday of being a “silent ally” of Russia in the digital war and of failing to take sufficient action against disinformation. He threatened the companies with financial penalties if they ignore requests from the authorities.

According to data from the National Research Institute NASK, platforms responded to fewer than a quarter of the more than 65,000 reports concerning fake accounts and disinformation content submitted in Poland during the first half of 2026. Only 7% of cases were removed, while more than 17% were moderated.

Gawkowski claims that Russia uses bots and structures linked to its intelligence services to fuel divisions and destabilize Western societies. Moscow rejects the accusations.

The minister called on platforms to create Polish-language moderation teams, maintain direct contact with the authorities, quickly remove bot networks, and reduce response times to reports. Discord, Google, Meta, X, Telegram and TikTok did not immediately comment.