Internet & Online Safety · Poland
Internet & Online Safety - Poland
Online content moderation and platform liability in Poland are governed by the EU Digital Services Act, which has been directly applicable since 17 February 2024 and imposes the full set of notice-and-action, transparency, trusted-flagger and very-large-platform obligations. However, Poland is the only EU member state that has not enacted national legislation designating an empowered Digital Services Coordinator: the implementing bill passed by the Sejm on 21 November 2025 was vetoed by President Karol Nawrocki in January 2026 over free-speech/censorship concerns, leaving enforcement in limbo. A separate government bill on age-verification and protecting minors from harmful online content remains a draft.
As an EU regulation, the DSA applies in Poland without transposition since 17 Feb 2024, governing illegal-content removal, notice-and-action mechanisms, platform transparency, and obligations on very large online platforms — these rules bind platforms regardless of the national enforcement gap.
On 21 Nov 2025 the Sejm passed the bill implementing the DSA, but President Karol Nawrocki vetoed it in January 2026, citing censorship risks and 'gold-plating' (national content-blocking powers exceeding the DSA). Poland is the only EU state without a fully empowered Digital Services Coordinator.
The President of UKE is set to be the Digital Services Coordinator (temporarily entrusted with the role by a Council of Ministers resolution effective 15 May 2025), with UOKiK handling online-marketplace/consumer aspects and KRRiT covering audiovisual content. Until the law is in force, the UKE President has no decision-making powers over providers.
The Commission opened infringement proceedings against Poland for failing to designate a Digital Services Coordinator and lay down penalty rules by the February 2024 deadline; continued non-compliance exposes Poland to CJEU financial penalties (figures of ~EUR 8-10 million have been discussed).
A government draft law published February 2025 (consultation ended 26 March 2025) would require pornographic sites to deploy age verification blocking minors, and other services to conduct documented risk analyses. It remains a draft; the data-protection authority (PUODO) objected in June 2025 that verification methods were left unspecified. A separate citizens' bill (212,000 signatures) was submitted to the Sejm in December 2024.
Intermediary liability follows the DSA's conditional liability exemptions (hosting/caching/mere conduit), replacing the older e-Commerce framework; Poland's pre-existing Act on Providing Services by Electronic Means (2002) is the vehicle being amended to add DSA enforcement and penalties.
Machine-assisted translation · verified 5/25/2026 · orientation, not legal advice. English version →