President Karol Nawrocki has vetoed a law on responding to illegal online content. That does not settle the question of online safety. It makes the central institutional question harder to avoid: who should be allowed to restrict content, and under what safeguards?
TVN24 described the bill as an implementation of EU digital-services rules. Its stated aims were faster removal of illegal content, stronger user protection and greater transparency from online platforms. Government-coalition politicians also argued on the programme “Kawa na ławę” that the rules would improve protection for children from harmful material.
Those aims should not be dismissed with a slogan about censorship. Children and other users need effective protection, and platforms should not be the sole arbiters of whether and how quickly material suspected of breaking the law is addressed. A system that relies only on voluntary or opaque platform action leaves a serious public-interest problem unresolved.
But Nawrocki’s stated objection identifies a real limit. He argued that an official should not decide whether content has a criminal character. Opposition representatives and the Presidential Palace also warned of censorship and excessive powers for officials. Speed alone cannot justify a system that restricts speech without clear rules and a meaningful route to judicial review.
The supplied reporting does not set out the bill’s full text, the precise powers it would have created, or its proposed appeal mechanisms. Nor does it describe the government’s next legislative move. Those omissions matter because the next debate should not be framed as a choice between protection and freedom. It should concern a workable procedure: a reasoned decision, defined authority, effective appeal and protections that do not depend entirely on platforms.
The veto is therefore not an answer to illegal online content. It postpones an answer that lawmakers still need to write with far greater precision.
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Independent editorial content. WUA is not affiliated with any political party. 2026-11-15