President Karol Nawrocki’s office announced the body on Wednesday as a new advisory group focused on digital transformation, the media market, new technologies, information and digital education.
The 27-member council is chaired by Klaudia Cymanow-Sosin, a professor at the Pontifical University of John Paul II in the southern city of Kraków.
Tusk wrote on X on Thursday that people "spreading Russian disinformation" had been brought into the council.
Government spokesman Adam Szłapka pointed in particular to Paweł Swinarski, a YouTuber known as Paweł Svinarski.
Szłapka said NASK, a state research institute specializing in cybersecurity, and the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces had previously warned about his pro-Russian and misleading content.
The criticism centers on Swinarski’s comments after Russian drones entered Polish airspace in September last year. He suggested the incident may have been a Ukrainian provocation meant to pull Poland into the war, a claim critics said matched Russian disinformation narratives.
Marcin Kierwiński, Poland’s interior minister, said the appointment “does not look good.”
Presidential spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz rejected the criticism.
The president’s office stated that the council is meant to assess the state of modern media, examine its impact on society, develop recommendations and good practices, and strengthen public resilience to disinformation.
That stated mission is now being tested by a row over whether one of its members has helped spread the kind of narratives it is supposed to resist.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP