Rafał Brzoska demands advertiser verification after fake assassination ads appear on Facebook

Fabricated attack and political targets

On 30 September 2026, InPost founder and parcel locker creator Rafał Brzoska published a video on X addressing deceptive advertisements on Facebook that claimed he had survived an assassination attempt. The sponsored posts falsely claimed that the Polish businessman had just been discharged from a hospital following an attack on his life. Brzoska confirmed that no assault occurred, that he had never entered the hospital, and that the story was entirely invented. The incident follows previous campaigns that featured fabricated images of Brzoska in handcuffs, as well as false stories claiming his wife, Omenaa Mensah, had been arrested, beaten, or killed. Brzoska noted that the scam wave also targets Polish President Karol Nawrocki, politician Sławomir Mentzen, and multiple other public officials.

There was no assassination attempt. Fortunately. I did not leave the hospital. Everything is okay. But I will not let you off the hook for this. I swear, I will not let it go.

Calls for advertiser verification laws

Brzoska directed his criticism at Central and Eastern European representatives of Meta Platforms and appealed directly to Polish lawmakers and President Nawrocki for regulatory intervention. He proposed a statutory requirement extending standard anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) protocols to digital networks, forcing them to verify the identities of all commercial advertisers before running promotions. Brzoska stated that such mandatory verification would eliminate fraudulent ad campaigns. Digital Poland Foundation managing director Piotr Mieczkowski supported stronger oversight, remarking that profiting from scams resembles receiving stolen goods and pointing out that banks and telecommunications operators face strict regulatory bans against handling illicit funds.

Meta response and moderation figures

Meta removed the sponsored posts and blocked the underlying user accounts responsible for distributing the fake assassination story. The company stated that online fraudsters represent determined criminals using increasingly sophisticated tactics. However, Meta stated that publicly naming and targeting its individual employees on social media threatens worker safety and fails to resolve the issue. The company stated that an updated artificial intelligence system deployed in Poland has removed 50% more celebrity impersonation ads than its previous setup. Between July 2025 and June 2026, Meta removed 137,000 scam ads in Poland, with over 88% detected proactively before receiving user reports.

The advertisement mentioned in the post, along with the account displaying it, have been blocked for violating our policies.

Revenue scrutiny and the Instrat report

The confrontation follows earlier disclosures regarding the scale of deceptive advertising across Facebook and Instagram. Research by the Instrat Foundation cited by Brzoska estimated that Meta earned 760 million PLN from fraudulent advertisements in Poland in a single year. That figure corresponds to approximately 37% of the total revenue reported by Meta's Polish commercial entity. The foundation also calculated that scam promotions accounted for 10.85% of total advertising reach across Meta platforms in Poland. Globally, Meta stated that it removed more than 159 million deceptive advertisements over the past year, detecting 92% of them prior to user complaints.