Poland has urged the European Union to accelerate action against Meta after a new report estimated the technology giant could have earned around $199 million (760 million zlotys) from fraudulent advertisements in the country over a year.
Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski called the findings “staggering” and said he would press European Commission Vice-President Henna Virkkunen to speed up ongoing proceedings against the Facebook and Instagram owner.
“Severe penalties for Meta must be imposed as soon as possible,” Gawkowski said, adding: “The higher the penalties, the better. No leniency!”
The report, published on Wednesday by the Polish think tank Instrat, estimated that scam advertisements represented 10.85 per cent of the total advertising reach across Meta platforms in Poland.
It estimated Meta could have generated around $199 million (760 million zlotys) from such advertisements in the year to July 2026, which is equivalent to roughly 37 per cent of Facebook Poland’s reported annual revenue.
Instrat President Michał Hetmański accused Meta of allowing organised criminal groups to exploit its platforms, questioning whether Poland had become too profitable a market for the company to effectively restrict fraudulent advertising.
The findings add to mounting pressure from Warsaw. In August, Gawkowski asked the European Commission to impose a $287 million (€250 million) fine on Meta, accusing the company of failing to remove more than 80 per cent of fraudulent advertisements reported to it, including scams using the likenesses of politicians, journalists and other public figures.
Meta has rejected suggestions that it deliberately profits from fraudulent content, saying combating scams remains a priority.
The company said it removed 137,000 advertisements in Poland for violating its scam and fraud policies between July 2025 and June 2026, with more than 88 per cent removed before being reported by users.
It has also announced an enhanced AI-based scam detection system, with Poland among the first European countries where it is being introduced.
The European Commission already has formal proceedings open against Meta under the Digital Services Act over several issues, including its policies and practices concerning deceptive advertising.
The Commission has previously said the proceedings allow it to seek further evidence and take enforcement action if violations are established.
Russia struck Ukraine overnight in one of the biggest attacks of the conflict, killing at least 17 people. ...
Georgia will save millions each year by importing electricity directly from Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has said, as he announced ...
The preliminary results of an investigation into Kazakhstan's armed forces have emerged. The probe was ordered by President ...
Russia's health watchdog said on Tuesday that no cases of plague had been detected among anyone who had come into contact with a Siberian plague institute laboratory worker who died last week, and locals said their lives had barely been disrupted.
A large Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow and the surrounding region has killed two people, damaged homes and sparked a major fire at a key fuel facility, according to Russian officials and military bloggers.
An Azerbaijani citizen died and another is missing after a cargo ship was attacked by a drone in the Black Sea, near the coast of Romania on Monday, 5 October, Baku's Foreign Ministry has said.
The German-Azerbaijani Connectivity Conference 2026 commenced on 6 October in Baku under the title “Mobilising Finance for Infrastructure, Transport, Logistics, Green Energy, and Digitalisation along the Middle Corridor.”
Police fired tear gas at protesters blockading French high schools on Tuesday as students, teachers and parents took to the streets on the biggest day of action in a wave of demonstrations against understaffed and dilapidated classrooms.
Russia struck Ukraine overnight in one of the biggest attacks of the conflict, killing at least 17 people. Vyacheslav Chaus, Governor of the northern city of Pryluky, said 13 people had died, including four children, after a Russian missile hit a five-storey apartment block.
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the use of a firing squad to execute former U.S. Army psychiatrist, Major Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people in a 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, Texas.
Kenya has confirmed its first case of Ebola after a Kenyan citizen who had travelled from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) died in Nairobi, prompting health authorities to launch an urgent contact-tracing operation.
Kosovo's parliament has elected economist and academic Justina Shiroka Pula as the country's new president, concluding a dramatic political process just hours before a constitutional deadline that threatened to dissolve the legislature.
The U.S. military has tightened restrictions on its personnel in Okinawa following the arrest of a Marine on suspicion of murder, a case that has reignited long-standing tensions over the American military presence on the southern Japanese island.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment