“We have cyber weapons.” Deputy Prime Minister Gawkowski reveals the cards regarding the digital army

Digital transformation is very successful – and on many levels; our e-services are something unique compared to Europe – said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitization Krzysztof Gawkowski in an interview for Friday's “Puls Biznesu”. His priorities for the next two years include: effective fight against disinformation and illegal content on platforms, AI gigafactory and new e-services.

The entire interview in today's “Puls Biznesu”.

“We have introduced over 25 new services to mObywatel. This gives the feeling that we have a technological leap at the highest level. I travel around Europe, recently I was in Germany – seeing what the development of e-services or broadband Internet access looks like there, I can say: we have overtaken you,” said the head of the Ministry of Digital Affairs.

He mentioned the achievements of the current government in digitalization development of artificial intelligence and the PLLuM and Bielik language models, two AI factories being built and the development of digital competences. There has also been a significant strengthening of cybersecurity, which has become an element of state security. “We increased funds for cybersecurity from PLN 1.5 billion to PLN 4 billion in 2025. We designed a program to support the digital transformation of enterprises and universities worth PLN 2.8 billion,” Gawkowski recalled.

On legislative matters the priority was the adoption of the KSC Act, the Digital Services Act, i.e. the implementation of the EU DSA (Digital Services Act), and the electronic communications law. “All three acts were issued by the ministry, all of them passed the government, two of them passed the parliament, and one was signed by the president. Moreover, during the year we drafted the Polish Digitization Strategy, which no one had written before. Now it is waiting for the government to adopt it. Soon, the act on artificial intelligence systems will also come from the government to the parliament, and the act on cybersecurity certification has entered into force,” the minister said. He added that the act on the KSC will be adopted by the parliament by the end of the year and should be sent to the president in January.

When asked about his plans for the next two years, Gawkowski said:

“I would like the state to gain influence on platforms to eliminate illegal content, including those spreading disinformation, scams and other frauds, as well as patostreaming, based on the adopted DSA Act – and I believe that the president will not blindly veto it – this is very important for Poland now.”

It will also be extremely important leading to a positive outcome of the investment in the artificial intelligence gigafactory. “I believe that the great increase in computing power that would result from the implementation of this project, combined with the ecosystem of AI models and projects at universities, would make us a leader in this area. This is good for Poland and future generations,” he argued.

To the question about the digital tax project declared that “Big tech companies that make money here should pay taxes here just like Polish companies. I will call it an equality tax, because currently domestic companies pay higher taxes in Poland than American companies, which have a larger reach, revenues and business here. It is not an anti-American tax. The data shows that the most revenues will come from e-commerce – and from another part of the world.”

“Prime Minister Tusk said that we have to work on this tax. And we are working. In January, we will present the draft bill and we will put it on the government track,” he said.

He noted that the government would not want to hit any Polish company with this tax. The possibility of increasing the threshold of EUR 750 million in global revenues is being analyzed. “That's why work on the bill is taking so long. The point is not to hit any Polish company that pays taxes honestly,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.

He confirmed that Poland has the ability to attack opponents in cyberspace. “We have tools that can be classified as cyber weapons,” he assured.

“In Poland, we have forces and resources that we can use in a threat situation. If someone harmed us, e.g. turned off the water or gas, we know how to give back. What can we do? Let the testimony be the fact that Poland is one of the few countries in the world that has signed a memorandum on cybersecurity with the United States, which uses our support in this area. This means that the US considers Poland one of the five best countries in the world in the field of cybersecurity,” he explained. (PAP)

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