Polish Deputy Prime Minister Asks EU to Fine Meta 250 Million Euros

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said Thursday that he formally asked the European Commission to fine Meta 250 million euros over what he described as failures to control fraudulent advertising targeting Poles.

Gawkowski, who is also minister of digital affairs, described the requested fine as 1 billion zlotys in a statement on X. The statement lists both amounts without explaining their relationship and describes a requested penalty, not a commission decision.

The request is detailed in an Aug. 26 letter addressed to the commission’s executive vice president for technological sovereignty, security and democracy.

The letter cites Article 66(1) and asks the commission to broaden and deepen its assessment of Meta’s compliance with Articles 34 and 35 of the Digital Services Act. It also seeks enforcement measures under the law, including the proposed 250 million-euro fine.

Gawkowski said he acted after reviewing material that included information from Meta and later media reports about inadequate control over published content.

The letter alleges that Meta has not responded effectively or adequately to repeated reports of fraudulent advertisements from Polish authorities and cybersecurity teams.

Gawkowski also called on Meta to introduce effective tools against scams, fake advertisements and promotions for illegal applications.

“This Wild West on the platform must come to an end,” he said.

To support the request, the letter cites a test conducted by CERT Polska, which operates within NASK, a state research institute. During the test, 122 advertisements classified as scams were reported to Meta.

The letter says Meta closed 106 cases, or 86.8%, without removing the advertisements. It removed 10 ads, while six reports received no response.

CERT Polska also found that accounts repeatedly used to publish malicious advertisements often were not effectively blocked, allowing their operators to continue, according to the letter.

The letter also cites a May 2026 complaint to the commission from consumer groups affiliated with BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation. According to the document, work across 13 countries produced nearly 900 reports of allegedly fraudulent advertisements and content.

The platforms involved removed 27% of the reported material, while 52% of the reports were rejected or unanswered, the letter says. Those figures concern platforms collectively rather than Meta alone.

Hundreds of advertisements promoting financial scams remained active and reached more than 200 million European consumers each month, potentially exposing them to financial losses and other harm, according to the letter. It says the consumer groups identified possible violations of several Digital Services Act provisions.

In a separate Aug. 26 post, Gawkowski said Meta had sent the ministry a written response about its efforts to combat scams.

Gawkowski characterized the response as acknowledging that fraudulent advertising existed on an enormous scale but offering no convincing or effective method of protecting users.

He said Meta treated some information as strictly confidential and published the response after arguing that such information should be transparent. Gawkowski also said the letter left several questions unanswered and was not signed by a named individual.

In that post, he said the ministry was conducting an in-depth analysis and that decisions would follow. In Thursday’s statement, Gawkowski urged the European Commission to act quickly and impose the requested fine.