Warsaw is finally pressing the accelerator on digital regulation. The Ministry of Digitalisation, keen to avoid the spectre of multi-million dollar fines from the European Commission, has unveiled a two-pronged strategy to implement the Digital Services Act (DSA). It is a belated move, but one that is critical to the operational model of online platforms operating on the Vistula.
Instead of a single, comprehensive document, the ministry decided to split the legislation into two separate bills. This pragmatic manoeuvre is intended not only to speed up the legislative process, but also to circumvent potential political reefs. This is because in the background there is a smouldering government-president conflict, which has already paralysed the implementation of EU standards in the past.
The foundation of the changes is the appointment of a ‘digital sheriff’. This role has fallen to the President of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), who, as coordinator for digital services, will be given broad powers of control and sanction. For business, this means the end of the era of voluntary content moderation. Technology companies will have to face a new level of transparency: from justifying every decision to remove a post to revealing the cards in terms of how advertising algorithms work. Support for the UKE from the OCC and the NCRT suggests that oversight will be multidimensional, encompassing both consumer protection and information governance.
The second draft touches on the most explosive issue: the procedure for blocking illegal content. Here, the Ministry seeks to balance the effectiveness of the fight against the most serious crimes, such as terrorism or human trafficking, with the protection of freedom of expression. A key safety net for entrepreneurs and users is to be the lack of immediate enforceability of injunctions and a strong appeal path before the ordinary courts. This is important for business stability – the risk of arbitrary exclusion of services by state authorities is to be minimised by judicial review.
