This is not censorship, but security. The government adopted a bill on blocking illegal content on the Internet

The government adopted a bill on Tuesday, which is to enable blocking illegal content on the Internet – said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski. Content on 27 prohibited acts will be able to block, including threats, urging to murder or fraud.

On Tuesday, the Council of Ministers adopted a draft amendment to the Act on the provision of electronic services by the Ministry of Digitization – said Deputy Prime Minister and head of the ministry Krzysztof Gawkowski during a press conference at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister. The change is to ensure the effective application of the provisions of the EU digital services (DSA) in Poland, including blocking content on the Internet.

– This is a law that provides network security – said Gawkowski. He added that the planned regulations will be a state tool to fight deformation and illegal content on the web.

The legal act that the government has today adopted is the protection of users; This is freedom of speech, which is absolutely important, but which on the Internet must be treated in a limited way – he noted.

The project assumes that the supervision over the application of the DSA provisions in Poland will be exercised by the President of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) – in most cases; National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) – in the field of video platforms and president of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) – in the field of commercial platforms and other matters related to consumer protection.

The project entitles natural persons and, among others Prosecutor's office, police, National Tax Administration, Border Guard (in matters related to human trafficking) to submit application for an order to block illegal content. This procedure may be subject to content related to 27 acts prohibited by the Penal Code, including:

• punishable threats,
• persuade to commit suicide,
• praise of pedophile behavior,
• promoting totalitarian ideology,
• hate call,
• Insults against the background of national, ethnic, racial, religious differences (including content containing hate speech, disseminated in social media).

Blocking order may also be subject to content related to:

• accepting the order of the murder of man;
• recruitment regarding human trafficking;
• consolidating the image of a naked person or a person during sexual action without their consent or by using violence, threats or tricks;
• presenting a minor under 15 years of pornographic content;
• sending false alarms.

The procedure is also to cover content related to computer fraud and to sell tobacco products, electronic cigarettes and nicotine bags online. The project also lists content that violates copyright or content related to the illegal sale of goods or illegal provision of services.

What decides that the content on the Internet will be blocked?

When determining the catalog of crimes covered by the proceedings, the following criteria were adopted: recognition of a given act as a crime committed using the Internet, resulting from the manner of acting of the perpetrator; Internet crime is related to the distribution of content; Blocking access to content does not cause negative effects on public debate or election processes.

The project assumes that The author of the contentious content will receive a notification from the Internet provider about the start of the procedure and will have two days to present his position. The order to remove a given content will be able to be issued by the President of UKE and the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council – in the case of video platforms. There will be no appeal against the decision, but the author of the content will be able to object to the common court.

The procedures on the side of the offices are to last:

• 2 days (in the event that the police or prosecutor submits the application),
• 7 days (service recipient, trusted signaling entity),
• 21 days (particularly complicated matters).

In situations where the internet platform incorrectly removes the content that it considers illegal, the president of UKE or chairman of the National Broadcasting Council will be able to issue a order to restore them.

Pursuant to the planned provisions, the President of UKE will also be able to act as a digital service coordinator in matters related to DSA at national and European level. Together with the Advisory National Council for Digital Services, he has, among others Consider complaints submitted to the platforms and conduct administrative proceedings related to the EU regulation.

Not only users' content, but also advertising

The new regulations also assume, among others Increasing the supervision of internet platforms in the scope of: considering applications by Users, transparency of advertising, or restrictions on profiling personal data. The act on digital services (DSA) is the world's first digital regulation (regulation), which imposes responsibility on companies throughout the EU on their platforms. It is entirely in force in the member countries since February 17, 2024. Articles 9 and 10.

The Ministry of Digitization (MC) presented the first draft amendment in March 2024. At that time, non -governmental organizations warned against the risk of political censorship and appealed to change the regulations so that they took into account the rights of injured persons who would not agree with the decision to block. Notes also concerned the creation of a closed list of content that could be blocked. The resort after two consultations took into account most of these comments. The latest bill was published on September 22.

The act is to come into force after a month from the date of publication, with several exceptions, related to, among others with orders to remove content. (PAP)

mbl/ mmu/