We support rejecting the European Commission Regulation (DSA). The very idea of any form of censorship is alien to Polish political culture – this was one of the conclusions in President Karol Nawrocki’s speech in Prague. A few days earlier, the Polish Journalists Association (Stowarzyszenie Dziennikarzy Polskich, SDP) had appealed to the president to veto a bill that would allow the president of UKE to block online content without judicial oversight. “It would be the death of free speech,” said SDP chair Jolanta Hajdasz. She gave examples of how, using this law, the authorities would be able to block portals with views inconvenient to them, such as Republika, as well as profiles on X or other social media platforms.
The bill, passed by the Sejm on Friday despite opposition votes, is now headed to the Senate. According to the government, it is necessary due to the need to implement the EU DSA (Digital Service Act) regulation. Opposition politicians argue that the regulations proposed by the Tusk government go further than what EU law requires. For example, under the government bill adopted by the Sejm, the president of UKE decides on blocking online content without any judicial review. Amendments proposed by PiS MPs, which would introduce such oversight – giving courts, rather than central administration officials, the power to block content – were rejected by the governing coalition.
President: Reject the DSA
Immediately after the governing coalition passed the bill, the SDP Main Board (ZG SDP) issued an appeal to President Karol Nawrocki to veto it.
“ZG SDP strongly protests against the restrictions on freedom of speech we see in this Act. It is an indirect way of introducing internet censorship in Poland and enabling those in power to interfere with online content using the state administration’s structure. We fear that, alongside today’s problems with major social media platforms, we will face new problems involving content being blocked by the politicians who hold power at any given moment. The mechanism of imposing orders to block access to ‘illegal content’ is an example of overregulation introduced by the Polish legislator in the course of implementing European law” – the appeal reads.
SDP stresses that “the proposed provisions violate media independence and the independence of creators, including journalists. With fictional judicial oversight and no guarantees of a clear and effective appeals process, this introduces into the Polish media system a censorship mechanism prohibited in a democratic state governed by the rule of law.”
During his lecture at Charles University in Prague on Monday, President Karol Nawrocki stated that he supports rejecting the EC regulation known as the DSA. “The very idea of any form of censorship is alien to Polish political culture,” Nawrocki said.
“I take the president’s words as a signal that he will not sign this bill. If it went into effect, it would be the death of free speech,” Jolanta Hajdasz said.
Government Manipulation
The government insists that these regulations are necessary to combat online crime. But crimes are already prosecuted under criminal law, using procedures that also allow blocking genuinely criminal content. No one disputes that, for example, online pedophilia must be prosecuted, but this is already possible without the new bill. What the government does not say is that the catalogue of content that can be blocked includes material that could simply be considered politically or ideologically inconvenient for those in power, Hajdasz notes. For instance, the government’s communication states that the bill “introduces a national procedure for issuing orders to block content concerning strictly defined crimes, such as: human trafficking, sexual exploitation of minors, online fraud, identity theft, solicitation of murder, or incitement to suicide”.
It does not mention, however, that among the “27 prohibited acts” is e.g. Article 256 of the Penal Code. This is the article under which, based on a broad interpretation by the prosecutor, criminal charges were brought against ROG leader Robert Bąkiewicz for his criticism of German services’ policies and actions. The prosecutor concluded that his statements were “arousing and intensifying strong feelings of dislike and hostility toward people of German nationality and immigrants”.
These statements were made, among other places, on TV Republika, on his X profile, and on the online channels ZERO and PRZEkanał.
“This is a very good example of what could happen if this bill became law. A prosecutor, having filed such charges, could under this bill request that the president of UKE block the Republika portal, Bąkiewicz’s profile, and ROG on X, as well as any place where these statements appeared. NGOs could also do this, as the bill grants them the status of so-called ‘reporting entities’ (it was Akcja Demokracja that urged prosecution under this article of the Penal Code and filed a complaint – editor’s note). In this way, not for crimes but for views, a number of information channels online would be blocked,” Jolanta Hajdasz says.