NEWS

26/09/2025

13:41

Recreating the Censor's Office: Bosak on Government's DSA Implementation Project

Michał Lubowicki

- Konfederacja continuously warns that censorship is approaching. Well, yes, because legal acts appear constantly, regardless of whether PiS or PO is in power, which aim to limit freedom of speech. […] We have a new project […] this is an attempt to amend the Act on the Provision of Electronic Services. […] What the government is doing is an attempt to introduce administrative censorship, meaning that some official will decide what should disappear from the internet - said Krzysztof Bosak in a recording published on Kanal Zero.

- This is happening under the pretext of implementing EU regulations, specifically the Digital Services Act, known as DSA. […] They are listing a whole series of articles based on which it is defined what content is legal, what is illegal, and they want to create a procedure where an official will be able to order service providers, servers, to immediately remove certain content. […] And an official, after an appropriate denunciation, will make such a decision - he continued.

- Who is supposed to file these denunciations? An interesting catalogue: the prosecutor's office, the police, the National Revenue Administration […], but also the service recipient, and thus perhaps simply every internet user and - pay attention - a trusted signaling entity. I am very curious who will be among the trusted signaling entities - he stated.

- It is supposed to work in such a way that an application will be filed, and this power of preventive censorship will be placed in the hands of the president […] of the Office of Electronic Communications. We are currently just before a new president of the Office of Electronic Communications is to be chosen. This is a very important position that is rarely discussed, and this person could gain the power to decide what you can say, write, or publish on the internet - indicated the leader of Konfederacja.

- Currently, it is the court, through a normal two-instance proceeding, that decides whether something you have published was legal or illegal. […] And this is supposed to change in such a way that, simply, in urgent proceedings, some officials will prepare opinions, and the president of the Office of Electronic Communications will click on some forms or give a signature: remove, don't remove… - he went on to say.

In his opinion: - This is the recreation, at the request of the European Union, interestingly, but by our state, of a de facto censor's office. […] This is later supposed to be subject to judicial review, but if this review works the way judicial review of administrative decisions works now, it's like saying “write to Berdychiv” (a Polish idiom meaning it's pointless and will never be acted upon). […] We will, of course, oppose such regulations.


Michał Lubowicki