Polish President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a major bill that could have resulted in mass censorship in Poland, with U.S. billionaire Elon Musk congratulating the move.
“As president, I cannot sign a bill that effectively amounts to administrative censorship,” Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki announced after vetoing an amendment to the Act on the Provision of Electronic Services, related to the implementation of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
The Polish president’s decision was welcomed by Musk, owner of the social media giant, X, which has been under pressure from Brussels and Westminster. The entrepreneur commented on the veto with the word, “Bravo.”
Bravo! 🇵🇱 https://t.co/1mRs8eJrzp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 13, 2026The Polish president stated that the bill contained what he called “absurd solutions” that were intended to give control over content published online to “officials subordinate to the government.” In his statement, he compared the proposed mechanisms to the censorship known from George Orwell’s novel “1984.”
He added that the bill includes the possibility of funding so-called “trusted whistleblowers” who, using public funds, would identify “dissident” content and the citizens who publish it. According to the president, as cited by Do Rzeczy, the line that the amendment sought to protect children online was a “cynical screen” behind which the government would, in fact, seek to control freedom of expression.
“Restricting freedom of speech is unconstitutional. Exploiting the interests of children for this purpose is immoral,” Nawrocki added. The president invited the Ministry of Digital Affairs and non-governmental organizations to work together to improve the vetoed bill.
In response, Polish Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski (The Left) told Musk that the veto was “not a victory, but a disgrace.”
“We should protect our citizens from digital sewage, not defend the interests of those who pump it out on an industrial scale. Congratulations to all those who value the toxic ‘freedom’ of platforms more than the security of their own society,” Gawkowski added.
