Poland asks EU to fine Meta €250m over scam Facebook ads

Aug 27, 2026 | Business, Law, Society

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

Poland has formally requested that the European Commission fine Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, €250 million (1.1 billion zloty) for failing to tackle fraudulent advertising on its platforms.

Its decision follows a high-profile campaign by Rafał Brzoska, the billionaire owner of Polish delivery giant InPost, over scam adverts on Facebook that exploit fake images of him and other prominent Polish public figures, including President Karol Nawrocki.

On Thursday morning, digital affairs minister Krzysztof Gawkowski announced that he had sent a request to the European Commission to take action against Meta, including fining it €250 million.

“Inaction and ineffectiveness in combating harmful advertisements and fraudulent content targeting Poles will not be tolerated,” wrote Gawkowski. “I expect the European Commission to conduct the proceedings swiftly and impose the fine. There is more than enough evidence.”

The minister also called on Meta itself to “immediately introduce effective tools to eliminate scams, fake advertisements, and the promotion of illegal applications. This Wild West on the platform must come to an end”.

 

Gawkowski shared an image of the first page of a letter he had sent to Henna Virkkunen, the European commissioner for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, in which he argued that Meta’s failure to combat fraud may violate the EU’s Digital Services Act.

He pointed to a study by CERT Polska, a Polish state IT security body, which found that, of 122 adverts reported to Meta as being fraudulent, in 106 cases the company rejected requests to remove them. Gawkowski noted that the European Consumer Organisation has reported similar concerns to the EU.

On Wednesday, Gawkowski also shared copies of correspondence he had exchanged with Meta earlier this month. In response to the minister’s concerns, the tech firm had argued that it “does not seek to profit from” fraudulent advertising and outlined steps it was taking to address the problem.

Meta disclosed that, between July 2025 and June 2026, it had, in Poland alone, removed 380,000 examples of content and 137,000 adverts for violating its policies on fraudulent practices. It noted that the vast majority were removed before users even reported them.

Gawkowski’s intervention follows a high-profile campaign by Brzoska, one of Poland’s richest people and who, along with his wife, former TV presenter and businesswoman Omenaa Mensah, is a prominent public figure.

Brzoska and Mensah have long complained about the unauthorised use of their likenesses in fraudulent social-media advertising, especially on Facebook. In 2024, Poland’s data protection authority ordered Meta to stop displaying adverts that featured false reports of Mensah’s death to promote scams.

Earlier this month, Brzoska renewed his campaign, highlighting an example of a scam on Facebook that used a fake image of him being handcuffed by police in his home.

Brzoska – who also pointed to examples of Facebook running fake adverts featuring other prominent Polish figures, including President Nawrocki – launched a petition calling for platforms that run scam adverts to be fined 150% of the revenue they received from them.

The petition – which, at the time of writing, has been signed by almost 91,000 people – cited leaked data, reported by Reuters last year, indicating that Meta estimated 10% of its sales in 2024, around €16 billion, came from advertising scams or illegal products and services.

In comments to Reuters, Meta said at the time that the estimate was “rough and overly inclusive” and that the actual figure was lower. But it declined to provide an updated figure.

This week, Brzoska welcomed Gawkowski’s moves against Meta. He also noted that, while the minister’s letter to Meta had been addressed to Jakub Turowski, Meta’s director of public policy for Central and Eastern Europe, the firm’s response to him was unsigned.

“First-class cowardice,” declared Brzoska, who has repeatedly published the names of four of Meta’s senior Polish managers, including Turowski.

Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

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