President Nawrocki targeted in fresh social media threat
Polish President Karol Nawrocki has been targeted with a new threat on social media, Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said on Wednesday, just days after police detained a teenager over a similar incident.
"There is no consent to breaking the law online!" Krzysztof Gawkowski wrote on X. "We continuously report illegal content to social media platforms, especially those containing threats against the most important state officials, including the President of the Republic of Poland. Today we encountered yet another such case."
The incident came less than a week after the Polish authorities detained a 19-year-old after a photograph of a gun appeared on X alongside the caption: "See you, Karol."
Antoni Skiba, the spokesperson for the Warsaw Prosecutor's Office, told PAP last week that the suspect admitted guilt and expressed remorse. He has been place under police supervision, is banned from approaching the president as well as buildings belonging to the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland – the Presidential Palace and Belweder.
Gawkowski noted that Poland was also working to implement the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), a sweeping regulation designed to curb illegal content and disinformation online. The draft amendment, currently under parliamentary consideration, was rejected by Nawrocki in late October, who argued that the government seeks to "restrict freedom of speech."
"The act is in the final stages of parliamentary work and will soon be sent to the president for signature," Gawkowski wrote.
The DSA, fully in force across the EU since mid-February 2024, is the world's first comprehensive regulatory framework for digital services. Among its provisions, it grants national digital authorities the power to order the removal or blocking of online content. (PAP)
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