In October, Poland’s ruling majority backed by Donald Tusk passed a law implementing the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), which introduces the blocking and restriction of illegal content on the internet. With Poland’s president now able to veto the bill, the left is running a non-stop campaign to demonize a potential veto and claim it would harm children.
The right is warning that the left’s campaign is pure propaganda and a backdoor attempt to implement censorship across Poland. As a result, the Polish right commonly refers to the “censorship law.”
In fact, under the law, those responsible for blocking illegal content will be government officials in Poland, in particular, the Chairman of the National Broadcasting Council and the President of the Office of Electronic Communications.
Will President Nawrocki veto the bill?
While the law has reached President Karol Nawrocki’s desk, Polish libertarian-conservative circles are calling on the head of state to veto the bill. In turn, the left demands a signature. On Thursday, Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski and Deputy Minister Dariusz Standerski presented a “black book” of young victims of digital platforms at a press conference in front of the Presidential Palace. Gawkowski appealed to the president to urgently sign the bill, claiming it concerns online safety.
MP Bartłomiej Pejo emphasized in a post on his social media channels that the essence is not online security, but the ability to censor content and media that are inconvenient for the authorities.
Konferencja pod Pałacem Prezydenckim. Widz może odnieść wrażenie, że prezydent nie chce chronić dzieci przed złem w sieci. To manipulacja.
DSA nie dotyczy tylko dzieci. Dotyczy wszystkich, także dorosłych i świadomych użytkowników. Gdyby chodziło wyłącznie o ochronę dzieci, poparcie byłoby dawno. Ale rząd nie chce takiej ustawy. Do unijnych ram dołożył od siebie furtkę do cenzury.
A kto będzie cenzorem? Choćby „niezależni" sygnaliści wskazani przez rząd. Mam wrażenie, że będą tak samo niezależni, jak niezależna jest pani Korwin Piotrowska.
Słyszymy o walce z dezinformacją i złem w sieci. Tymczasem sprowadzanie rozmowy o DSA do dobra dzieci to zasłona dymna. Ta ustawa może uderzyć także w niewygodne, „niepoprawne" komentarze i stać się narzędziem cenzury.
Chcecie chronić dzieci? Oddzielcie to od przepisów, które ograniczają wolność słowa dorosłych.
— Bartłomiej Pejo (@bartlomiejpejo) November 13, 2026“The average person may get the impression that the president does not want to protect children from evil online. This is propaganda,” said Confederation MP Bartłomiej Pejo while referring to Minister Gawkowski’s press conference on the DSA censorship law.
“DSA doesn’t just apply to children. It applies to everyone, including adults and conscious users. If it were just about protecting children, support would have come long ago. But the government does not want such a law. It added a loophole for censorship to the EU framework,” the politician noted.
“And who will be the censor? For example, ‘independent’ whistleblowers appointed by the government. I have the impression that they will be as independent as Mrs. Korwin-Piotrowska is,” he warned, referring to the recent coup against the Polish Constitutional Court, which saw armed riot police surround the building and install Karolina Korwin-Piotrowska as the top judge, at which point she illegally suspended the previous head and deputy head.
“We hear about the fight against disinformation and evil online. Meanwhile, reducing the conversation about the DSA to the well-being of children is a smokescreen. This bill could also hit uncomfortable, ‘incorrect’ comments and become a tool of censorship,” Pejo noted.
“Do you want to protect children? Separate this from laws that restrict adults’ freedom of speech,” he added.
