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Together with the organisations, we launched an appeal to the government of the Republic of Poland.
Ladies and Gentlemen.
On 7 January 2025, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of the Met, announced sweeping changes to the platform's policy on countering disinformation. Among other things, he announced the resignation of independent factchecking organisations, which he accuses of censoring content on the internet.
These untrue insinuations have reverberated in the public debate, and the European Factchecking Standards Network (EFCSN), which brings together European factchecking organisations that meet requirements for organisational and financial transparency, political neutrality and objectivity, issued its statement on the matter. The EFCSN pointed out that, contrary to Mark Zuckerberg's claims, the work of fact-checkers does not constitute censorship but, on the contrary, expands freedom of expression. The French foreign ministry, in turn, pointed out that as recently as last year - on the occasion of the European Parliament elections - Meta highlighted its cooperation with fact-checkers as an example of an effective tool to support the integrity of elections.
Meta's decision is another in a series of recent actions by online platforms that could pose a serious risk to effectively countering disinformation, which is particularly important in the context of ensuring the integrity of the upcoming presidential elections in Poland.
In this context, we draw attention to the growing threat of hostile external interference in the electoral process in Poland. Elon Musk, the head of the internet platform X, is already openly engaging in internal political processes in countries such as Germany, the UK and Spain. In Romania, on the other hand, coordinated information operations on the TikTok platform resulted in the need to cancel the first round of the presidential election. The case is currently under investigation by the European Commission.
We emphasise that resistance to foreign interference and disinformation has been identified as one of the seven pillars of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Therefore, we appeal to the Polish government, in particular the Ministry of Digitalisation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
to take an official position on the recent actions of the large internet platforms, threatening - in our opinion - the information security of Poland and the European Union;
to take immediate action to ensure that large online platforms comply with the requirements of the Digital Services Act, in particular with regard to countering disinformation;
for real support for civil society organisations working for the integrity of elections and against disinformation.
Signatories of the appeal
Fundacja Digital Poland
Fundacja Instytut Zamenhofa
Fundacja TechSoup
Stowarzyszenie Demagog
Stowarzyszenie Pravda
Razem przeciw dezinformacji
We invite NGOs to sign our appeal. Please send your applications by e-mail to: kontakt w domenie demagog.org.pl.