A deadly shooting took place in Kraków's historic centre on Saturday evening. The sole assailant was a Polish national. 6 people died and 15 were injured, including 3 police officers who heroically stopped and apprehended the heavily armed attacker - preventing an even bigger tragedy.
Nevertheless, immediately after the attack numerous far-right and anti-government Polish accounts started to spread disinformation - wrongly suggesting that the attacker wasn't Polish, falsely linking the incident to the anti-government protests and fraudulently claiming that "police was useless", or that it wasn't even there to react.
At the same time, immediately after the incident a wave of bots and influence agents, likely Russia-controlled, kicked off an online campaign spreading a broad wave of fake news that the assailant was Ukrainian - looking to use this falsehood to provoke anti-Ukrainian sentiments in Poland.
"Situations like these provide fertile ground for spreading panic and disinformation. AI-generated images, recordings, and videos can appear highly convincing. Please remain vigilant, verify your sources, and do not share any material whose authenticity you cannot confirm"
- Polish government's spokesman, Adam Szłapka, appealed in a social media entry on Saturday evening.
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