President Nawrocki vetoes Polish law implementing the EU Digital Services Act

The veto

President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the amendment implementing the Digital Services Act (DSA) on Friday, 13 November 2026, and announced the decision on his website and on X. The bill was one of two drafted by the Ministry of Digitalisation in response to an earlier presidential veto. It would have created a faster procedure for issuing orders that restrict access to illegal content online, while respecting the rights of network users. On Thursday, 12 November, Minister of Digitalisation Krzysztof Gawkowski (Lewica) had appealed to the president to sign a second law implementing the DSA, which in practice would allow illegal content to be blocked.

What the law was meant to do

The DSA is an EU regulation that holds platforms such as Facebook and TikTok responsible for the content published on them. The Polish bill would have enforced users' rights on those platforms, including quick removal of illegal and harmful content and unblocking of accounts that were suspended without good reason. A hate speech provision was introduced as an amendment after Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggested it, following attacks at schools in Leszczydół-Nowiny and Ostrołęka in early October. A similar clause had appeared in the version the president vetoed in January.

The ministry defended the bill in a statement:

“The law implementing the DSA is another step toward building a safer and more responsible digital environment, in line with the rules applying across the European Union.”

Earlier veto and the second bill

In January the president vetoed an earlier amendment to the Act on the provision of services by electronic means, saying he could not sign a law that in practice meant administrative censorship. Two amendments were then prepared in response. The second, which lets the head of the Office of Electronic Communications serve as digital services coordinator, was signed by the president in late September and took effect on 6 November. The bill vetoed on Friday was the other of the two.

Reactions

PSL MP Adam Dziedzic criticised the veto on X:

“It is hard to understand why, at a time when algorithms promote hate, hatred, stupidity and violence, a law meant to protect young generations is being blocked.”

He added that there would be no such protection. In mid-October, asked whether he would sign the DSA law, Nawrocki answered yes, provided it was a law that would not break freedom or block freedom on the internet. Adoption of the amendment is needed to implement the DSA in Poland, an EU act that has applied for less than three years.