Poland mulls law limiting powers of social media platforms to 'guarantee basic freedoms'

As governments across the globe have heightened scrutiny against social media websites, Poland’s government has proposed a new bill aiming to stop the social media platforms from deleting content or banning users who do not breach the Polish laws. The proposed law would also see social networks including Facebook, Twitter to be fined up t 50 million zloty or $13.4 million. Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro introduced the "freedom of speech protection" bill on January 15 that would also establish a "freedom of speech council".

As per reports, the council would be able to direct the social networks to restore the deleted content by the user or even unblock an account that was in line with Poland’s laws, said Ziobro. Furthermore, Polish social media users who had been blocked or if their content was deleted, would be able to complain directly to the platform and have to receive a reply within 24 hours. However, is the platform refused to comply with the order, the POlish government can fine the website anywhere between 50,000 and 50 million zloty.

Ziobro leads a hard-right junior partner in the Polish government and his part has claimed that LGBTQ+ rights are threatening traditional Roman Catholic values. He reportedly also said that the tech giants are increasingly restricting the freedom of speech and said, “Often, the victims of ideological censorship are also representatives of various groups operating in Poland, whose content is removed or blocked just because they express views and refer to values that are unacceptable.”

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Polish PM rejects censorship

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on Facebook “Censorship is not and cannot be accepted” days after both Facebook and Twitter banned outgoing US President Donald Trump’s accounts following the US Capitol attack by his supporters on January 7. The Polish PM had also said that safeguarding the freedom of speech on the social media platforms is his priority and warned against “political correctness”.

Throughout the four years of Trump administration, the US President's posts on Twitter were either flagged, removed, restricted or even banned on the platform. However, following the US Capitol siege by his supporters, Twitter permanently suspended his account ‘after reviewing his tweets’. But microblogging website’s measure drew some criticism from Europe including German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling it “problematic”.

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