Wirtualna Polska has reported a shocking case involving politicians from the ruling coalition and the most notorious online smear campaign run by Civic Platform supporters – “Sok z Buraka.” According to the WP portal, Szymon Gawryszczak, vice president of the state-owned Totalizator Sportowy and a trusted associate of Deputy Minister of State Assets Robert Kropiwnicki, was a shareholder and, until recently, controlled a company linked to “Sok z Buraka.” This Facebook page has been spreading hate and pro-Platforma propaganda on a massive scale.
A Scandal from the Start
The company in question shares its office with a foundation founded by Deputy Minister Kropiwnicki. Kropiwnicki and Gawryszczak have known each other for years, having started their political careers in the 1990s. In 2014, they established a system in Legnica that allegedly funneled public funds into private ventures.
The scandal involved transferring at least 655,000 PLN (nearly a million with VAT) from the account of the Regional Development Agency “Arleg”—a company fully owned by the Lower Silesian regional government—to the private Innovation Development Agency. At the time, Kropiwnicki was the managing director of the former, while Gawryszczak was the president of the latter.
The fallout? The Legnica branch of Civic Platform, led by Kropiwnicki, was dissolved. However, Platforma’s National Ethics Committee ruled after several months that those involved, including Kropiwnicki, would not face any consequences. The local government introduced corrective measures, and the case was closed.
Exposed
The “Sok z Buraka” Facebook page was created in 2014 and now has over a million followers. It serves as a propaganda tool for Civic Platform, frequently attacking its political opponents, mainly PiS. Despite its controversial content, the page has steadily gained popularity.
The first major crisis came in spring 2021 when Samuel Pereira, on TVP Info (a pro-PiS station known for its own partisan propaganda), published private messages between Roman Giertych and Mariusz Kozak-Zagozda, the founder of “Sok z Buraka.” The messages suggested that Giertych influenced the page’s narrative and supported its creators.
Following the revelations, changes were announced. On March 31, 2021, the Open Dialogue Foundation—primarily known for human rights advocacy—took over “Sok z Buraka.” However, this arrangement didn’t last. After just eight months, Open Dialogue withdrew.
The entity now effectively controlling “Sok z Buraka” is Crowd Media (crowdmedia.pl), owned by the company Mediana S.A.
A Network of Connections
Researchers from The Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), an international organization affiliated with the Atlantic Council that investigates online disinformation, followed the trail of these connections. On November 20, 2023, Givi Gigitashvili, one of DFRLab’s analysts, published a report detailing an opaque network of Facebook pages that systematically support Civic Platform and attack PiS.
DFRLab identified a network of at least 29 pages, all publishing the same political content at precisely the same time. “This suggested they were likely managed by the same person or group,” the report stated.
The network revolved around “Sok z Buraka.” DFRLab’s investigation revealed that many profiles within this network frequently shared content from Crowd Media. In one instance, ten different pages posted the same CrowdMedia.pl link within one second, using identical captions.
According to Marcin Mycielski from the Open Dialogue Foundation, the person responsible for linking “Sok z Buraka” to Crowd Media and Mediana was none other than Szymon Gawryszczak, now vice president of Totalizator Sportowy.
The Boss – A Sports Enthusiast
Despite the Legnica scandal, Kropiwnicki’s political career remained intact. He consistently secured a seat in Parliament.
After the 2023 elections, he joined the National Council of the Judiciary and became Secretary of State at the Ministry of State Assets. According to Onet, shortly after his appointment, loyal party members and trusted associates—such as Szymon Gawryszczak—started receiving positions at Totalizator Sportowy without any open recruitment process.
Interestingly, after media coverage of these controversial appointments, Totalizator Sportowy’s president and several directors were dismissed—but Gawryszczak remained untouched.
Journalists discovered that just before taking his new position, Gawryszczak was busy scrubbing his business ties with Mediana and Crowd Media.
In March 2024, he stepped down as editor-in-chief of Crowd Media, where he once described himself as a “politics and comics enthusiast, an expert in securing EU funds.” By May, his name was removed from the National Court Register as Mediana’s president. His articles were either deleted or anonymized—for example, an op-ed titled “Poland Needs Someone Like Ryszard Petru” no longer had a named author. However, archived versions of the site still showed Gawryszczak’s name.
Still a Beneficiary
Despite these changes, Gawryszczak remained listed as the beneficial owner in the Central Register of Beneficial Owners (CRBR). According to CRBR data, he held 32.4% of Mediana’s shares and had the authority to appoint its president and supervisory board member.
This raises a legal issue: Poland’s anti-corruption law prohibits executives of state-owned companies from holding more than 10% of shares in private businesses.
“I Was There, But I Didn’t Write…”
When contacted by journalists, Gawryszczak refused to comment and asked for questions via email. Regarding his shares in Mediana, he initially claimed that CRBR data was outdated and that he held less than 10%. It was only after four follow-up emails that he admitted to owning 188,000 Mediana shares—exactly 9.4%.
However, he never answered the repeated question of whom he sold the rest of his shares to. When asked about Crowd Media’s links to “Sok z Buraka,” he responded that he “ran a business venture, Crowd Media, which in turn influenced other media projects.”
Gawryszczak insists he was never a journalist, despite having served as editor-in-chief of Crowd Media.
Yet, archived versions of CrowdMedia.pl reveal a different story—790 articles bear his byline.