Speaking at the European Economic Congress in Katowice, southern Poland, on Thursday, Krzysztof Gawkowski said digital platforms were behaving like "a bully in the classroom," profiting from disinformation while ignoring reports of false content.
"The core problem is that we have no regulations that would allow us to tackle disinformation in a systemic way," he said, adding that platforms should have no choice but to respond in real time.
Gawkowski, who also serves as a deputy prime minister, blamed the legislative gap partly on President Karol Nawrocki, who vetoed a bill in January that would have implemented the EU's Digital Services Act in Poland.
The minister said new legislation was now being drafted and could reach the president's desk by summer.
The head of Poland's PAP news agency, Marek Błoński, called for a national anti-disinformation strategy to coordinate the efforts of multiple institutions.
He announced plans for a joint fact-checking hub that would bring together PAP and public broadcasters Polish Radio and TVP, combining their resources across a shared portal, podcasts, analyses and newsletters.
Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski argued that a broad education effort was needed, pointing to programmes already running in the capital's schools to teach pupils to verify information, including how to identify AI-generated content.
"It's really about checking, checking and checking again," Trzaskowski said, warning that artificial intelligence could make the problem significantly worse within a year.
(ał/gs)
Source: PAP