Poland requests €250 million fine on Meta over fraudulent advertisements

Warsaw demands European Commission action

Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski formally petitioned the European Commission on 26 August to impose a 250 million euro (over 1 billion PLN) fine on Meta Platforms. The petition, submitted under Article 66(1) of the Digital Services Act (DSA) to Executive Vice President Henna Virkkunen, accuses the company of failing to curb fraudulent advertisements and deepfake scams targeting Polish internet users. The Polish government demanded interim measures and seven binding corrective orders, including mandatory identity verification for advertisers and an expedited processing track for state cybersecurity notifications. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) separately forwarded Brussels evidence collected since its own probe began in May 2024. Gawkowski stated that state authorities will not accept inaction after Meta provided what the ministry described as unsatisfactory explanations following an ultimatum.

Inaction and inefficiency in combating ads and fraudulent content harmful to Poles will not be tolerated.

Cybersecurity test reveals Meta ad moderation record

The formal complaint drew directly on test results compiled by CERT Polska, a cyber defence unit operating within the NASK research institute. In a controlled test, technical experts submitted 122 verified fraudulent advertisements to Meta through standard reporting channels. The company decided not to remove 106 of the reported materials, which constituted 86.8% of the submissions. Meta deleted 10 advertisements and gave no response to the remaining six reports. Cyber authorities also recorded that accounts repeatedly distributing malicious campaigns remained active on Facebook and Instagram without being blocked.

Escalation timeline and entrepreneur campaign

The regulatory push follows a long-running public campaign led by InPost chief executive Rafał Brzoska, whose image and that of his wife Omenaa Mensah have been used in unauthorized investment advertisements. Brzoska estimates that Meta collects over 20 million PLN each day from scam advertisement emissions in Poland alone. Working with the developers of the Polish Bielik AI model, Brzoska launched the ScamWatch portal to track deceptive campaigns independently. He also proposed legislative changes requiring digital platforms to remit 150% of local revenues generated from illegal ads into a state compensation fund for fraud victims.

Meta has incomparably greater resources than all of us to prevent fraud.

Brussels cites existing probe and domestic implementation delays

European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier confirmed receipt of the Polish submission, stating that the EU executive already conducts an investigation into Meta regarding illegal deepfakes and misleading promotions under the DSA. In that ongoing inquiry, European regulators have preliminarily found that Meta breaches the regulation. However, Regnier observed that Poland has failed to operationalize a national Digital Services Coordinator (DSC), which hampers local enforcement. The Commission previously referred Poland to the Court of Justice of the European Union over the missing coordinator (sources date the legal referral to 7 May 2024 or 7 May 2025). President Karol Nawrocki vetoed an initial implementation bill in January on grounds of administrative censorship, leading the Sejm to pass revised legislation in late July.

Fraudulent ads and deepfakes of this type are, of course, a very serious problem and we take it seriously.

A Meta spokesperson responded to the Polish initiative by asserting that scams harm individuals and businesses that rely on the service, noting that the enterprise cooperates with the European Commission and national regulators. Legal commentators noted that the requested 250 million euro penalty is modest compared to Meta's 200 billion dollar annual revenue and its recent 17 billion dollar settlement with 47 US states over youth engagement.