Poland's Disinformation Crackdown Targets X and Meta

Poland's disinformation crackdown just got personal for Big Tech. Poland's digital minister is threatening heavy fines after a government report found that social platforms acted on only a sliver of the fake content officials flagged. The numbers are rough, and X takes most of the heat.

If you spend your day scrolling, this one is about the feed itself: who cleans it up, and what happens when nobody does.

What Poland's disinformation crackdown is built on

The trigger is a report from NASK, Poland's national research institute, which runs a disinformation analysis unit. According to Szczecinski Portal, NASK sent platforms sixty-five thousand two hundred twenty reports of disinformation content and accounts in the first half of twenty twenty-six. Only four thousand three hundred eighty ended in removal.

That works out to platforms removing six point seven percent of flagged material. Another seventeen point three percent got softer treatment, such as reduced visibility or a warning label. The remaining seventy-six percent, about forty-nine thousand five hundred seventy cases, led to no action at all.

X sits at the bottom of the scoreboard

Most reports went to X, formerly Twitter, with more than sixty thousand items flagged. The report says X removed two point four percent of them and moderated eighteen point seven percent. By contrast, Facebook removed sixty-three point six percent of what was reported to it, and TikTok removed fifty-five point seven percent, though the volume and type of reports differed a lot between services.

Deputy prime minister and digital affairs minister Krzysztof Gawkowski did not soften his language. In an interview with Fakt, he called X a hate platform and said an audit has already begun, with proceedings to impose penalties to follow. He added that Elon Musk owning the platform does not move him.

The fake doctors, fake soldiers and AI clips

NASK also described what the flagged content looks like. There were profiles posing as medical experts to sell supplements, and AI-made videos showing supposed statements from Polish soldiers. Other accounts used generated images of Ukrainian women for fake dating offers, and one profile impersonated the Krakow city guard.

The biggest category was manipulation, which covered more than sixty-two thousand reports, or ninety-five point three percent of the total. That bucket includes clips pulled out of context, edited photos, false captions on real events and coordinated networks of accounts. Platforms removed just four point nine percent of those, yet they took down seventy-eight point six percent of accounts pretending to be famous people or institutions.

The demands and the money

Gawkowski said he has demanded Polish-speaking moderation teams based in Poland that work directly with NASK and security services. He also wants faster takedowns of fake account networks and a better appeals process. According to the Szczecinski Portal report, he said penalties could reach tens of millions of zloty or euros.

In the Fakt interview he went further, saying he is seeking a one billion zloty fine for Meta over scam ads and has written to every European Union digital minister. He claimed Denmark and Finland have already backed him and are preparing their own audits. He also said Russian military intelligence, the GRU, is most often behind disinformation in Poland, which is his claim and not something this reporting independently verified.

The gap between flagged and removed content is the heart of the fight. Platforms often answer that a post follows their own community rules, while Polish officials argue that national authorities should be able to order a takedown outright. That clash over who gets the final say is why Poland's disinformation crackdown is being watched across Europe.

Why Gen Z should care

You are the audience these fake clips are built for. Deepfaked soldiers and fake doctors spread fastest on exactly the apps you use, and the flagging system only works if platforms respond. Poland is also pushing a national law to order the blocking of illegal content, which is a debate every country will face. Follow more world coverage to see who copies the idea.

The test comes next: whether platforms hire local moderators or wait for the fines. Either way, a country has now put a price tag on ignoring its reports, and that is a story worth tracking.