Frequent disregard and weak response from cybersecurity teamsViolated legal provisions and demands for mitigating measures

Warsaw, Poland – Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Affairs, Krzysztof Gaukowski, has called on the European Commission to impose a hefty fine of €250 million on tech giant Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram). This firm demand was made in an official letter from Gaukowski to the EU’s Director-General for Technology, Hina Verkonen. He also called for a formal investigation into the parent company for its repeated failures to address fraud and fake advertising on its platforms.

The Polish minister emphasized that the fraudulent advertising detected by authorities is not an isolated or marginal phenomenon. Rather, it constitutes one of the “largest and most persistent forms of abuse” within Meta’s ecosystem. He pointed to a clear failure on the part of European regulatory bodies to impose fines or launch decisive investigations under the Digital Services Act to date.

Frequent disregard and weak response from cybersecurity teams

In his letter, Gawkowski explained that Polish authorities and cybersecurity teams had repeatedly contacted Meta’s management. However, the company failed to provide any “effective and adequate response to the fraudulent ads.” In this context, a report from the cybersecurity team at the National Research Institute of Poland revealed that they had notified the platform of 122 fraudulent ads. Despite this, the company removed only 13% of them.

These negative findings align with a complaint filed by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC). They also revealed that the overall percentage of fraudulent ads removed from major platforms like Google, Meta, and TikTok did not exceed 27% across 13 European countries. This reflects the enormous scale of digital risks threatening users.

Violated legal provisions and demands for mitigating measures

The Polish position is based on accusations that Meta violated six key provisions of the European Digital Services Act. These violations include deficiencies in risk assessment and mitigation, lack of transparency regarding advertiser identities, and inadequate mechanisms for reporting illegal content. In addition to the hefty €250 million fine, Jaukowski is demanding that the company implement a series of stricter regulatory measures to mitigate this phenomenon and protect EU users. Neither the European Commission nor Meta has yet issued any official comments in response to these claims.