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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’s deputy prime minister has hit back at the US ambassador for praising opposition-aligned President Karol Nawrocki’s decision to veto a bill introducing tougher controls over online content.
Ambassador Thomas Rose described the proposed measures, which could have been used against big tech firms, as “anti-American” and hailed President Karol Nawrocki’s decision to block them as a defence of freedom and innovation.
However, Krzysztof Gawkowski, who serves as both deputy prime minister and minister of digital affairs, said that Rose is “mistaken” in his views. Earlier this week, Gawkowski also hit back at Elon Musk after the billionairre praised Nawrocki’s veto.
Myli się Pan, Panie Ambasadorze!
Szacunek dla partnerstwa 🇵🇱🤝🇺🇸 musi zaczynać się od faktów.
Ustawa o świadczeniu usług drogą elektroniczną nie ma nic wspólnego z hamowaniem innowacji czy „karaniem Ameryki”. DSA działa w Europie bezpośrednio.
W Polsce jego implementacja to… https://t.co/ZYo9N1JVfh
— Krzysztof Gawkowski (@KGawkowski) January 15, 2026
The bill in question aimed to implement the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA) in Poland. The government said that it would help protect internet users from harmful and illegal content, as well as disinformation.
However, last week it was vetoed by Nawrocki, who is aligned with the right-wing opposition and has regularly clashed with the more liberal government. The president argued that the measures would have threatened free speech in a manner “reminiscent of the Ministry of Truth in Orwell’s 1984″.
On Wednesday, Nawrocki’s decision was praised by Rose, who wrote on social media that the Polish president “deserves great credit” for vetoing “anti-American” measures that “would have weakened Poland in so many ways”
“It would stifle innovation, punish achievement, create massive barriers for new market entrants and make it almost impossible for Polish companies to scale,” wrote Rose. “It would strip capital from Polish innovation and give it Brussels bureaucrats, lawyers and audits, and replace clear rules with regulatory discretion.”
On Thursday, Gawkowski hit back, telling the ambassador that the proposed law “has nothing to do with stifling innovation or ‘punishing America'”. Rather, it is about “protecting Polish citizens from illegal content, scams, and hate directed at children and youth”.
“Freedom without responsibility is not sovereignty; it is powerlessness,” wrote Gawkowski. “And a strong state protects its society; it does not relinquish that protection in the name of corporate interests. Not even those from the country of our most important ally.”
Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, also weighed in on Rose’s comments, using them to suggest that the loyalties of Nawrocki, a close Trump ally, do not lie with Poland.
The president’s slogan “was supposed to be Poland first”, wrote Sikorski, “but let’s appreciate the loyalty of the president to his sponsors.” The foreign minister noted that Nawrocki issued a veto benefiting crypto-markets, and now one benefiting big tech firms.
Miała być po pierwsze Polska ale doceńmy lojalność Pana Prezydenta wobec swoich sponsorów: jedno weto dla giełd krypto, jedno dla big techów. https://t.co/0W8qtSFxwo
— Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 (@sikorskiradek) January 15, 2026
Nawrocki’s decision to veto the implementation of the DSA in Poland has also been welcomed by many US right-wing figures, including Elon Musk. Gawkowski earlier this week hit back at Musk’s celebration of the veto.
“We should be protecting our citizens from the digital sewage, not defending the interests of those who pump it out on an industrial scale,” wrote the Polish minister.
“Congrats to everyone who values the platforms’ toxic ‘freedom’ more than the safety of their own society.”
Mr. @elonmusk, this veto isn’t a victory, it’s a disgrace.
We should be protecting our citizens from the digital sewage, not defending the interests of those who pump it out on an industrial scale.
Congrats to everyone who values the platforms’ toxic “freedom” more than the… https://t.co/xtrNfYabhw
— Krzysztof Gawkowski (@KGawkowski) January 13, 2026
On Wednesday, deputy digital affairs minister Dariusz Standerski told broadcaster Polsat that the government has not given up on efforts to implement the DSA.
He suggested that, instead of passing it as a single bill, the legislation could be broken up into parts, with each introduced individually. He added that the ministry was open to dialogue with Nawrocki.
This week is not the first time Rose has clashed with Gawkowski. Last year, after he had been nominated as ambassador but before he had taken up his post, Rose criticised a planned tax on big tech firms being prepared by Gawkowski, calling it “not very smart” and warning it would harm relations with the US.
The incoming US ambassador to Poland has called on the Polish government to withdraw from its plans to introduce a new tax on big tech firms.
He called the move “not very smart” and warned that “President Trump will reciprocate” https://t.co/H0LWvVlHnk
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 11, 2025
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.
Main image credit: Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji (under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Alicja Ptak is deputy editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She has written for Clean Energy Wire and The Times, and she hosts her own podcast, The Warsaw Wire, on Poland’s economy and energy sector. She previously worked for Reuters.
