Poland urges EU to impose €250M fine on Meta for scams and fake ads on Facebook and Instagram

Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski has formally asked the European Commission to slap Meta Platforms with a €250 million ($291 million) fine for failing to police fraudulent content and scam advertisements across Facebook and Instagram. The request, sent via letter dated August 26, 2026, alleges that Meta has violated multiple provisions of the Digital Services Act and calls for a full investigation into the company’s content moderation practices.

The core accusation is damning in its simplicity. A 2026 study by CERT Polska, the country’s national cybersecurity response team, tested 122 fraudulent ads that had been flagged to Meta. The company removed just 16 of them, leaving 86.8% of known scam content live on its platforms.

A regulatory patience that finally ran out

Gawkowski’s letter specifically targets violations across six articles of the DSA, the EU’s sweeping content moderation law that took full effect in 2024. The provisions in question relate to risk assessment obligations and content reporting requirements.

The Deputy Prime Minister described the advertising environment on Meta’s platforms as a “Wild West.” Poland’s frustration didn’t materialize overnight. The country has been escalating pressure on Meta for years, driven in part by a high-profile legal battle involving Polish billionaire Rafał Brzoska. Since 2024, Brzoska has pursued litigation against Meta over fake advertisements that misused his likeness to promote scams.

A pivotal moment came in early 2026, when a Warsaw appellate court ruled that Meta operates as an active participant in its advertising ecosystem rather than a passive intermediary. That distinction matters enormously under EU law. Platforms that merely host third-party content enjoy broad liability protections. Active participants do not. The ruling effectively shrank Meta’s legal shield in Poland.

Meta’s defense meets a skeptical audience

Meta has pushed back on the narrative that it ignores fraud on its platforms. The company reported proactively removing approximately 137,000 scam ads originating from Poland between July 2025 and June 2026.

But context cuts both ways. Polish authorities appear unimpressed by the cleanup numbers when nearly nine out of ten specifically flagged ads stayed up.

The fine request targets what Gawkowski frames as a systemic failure rather than isolated incidents. The DSA requires very large online platforms, defined as those with more than 45 million monthly active users in the EU, to conduct regular risk assessments of their services and take meaningful action to mitigate identified risks.

What this means for Meta and Big Tech regulation in Europe

The €250 million figure, while substantial, would represent a fraction of Meta’s annual revenue. Under the DSA, the European Commission can impose fines of up to 6% of a company’s global annual turnover for violations. For Meta, whose parent company reported over $160 billion in revenue in recent fiscal years, the maximum theoretical penalty would be vastly larger.

Poland is effectively asking the Commission to validate a member state’s findings and open a formal DSA enforcement proceeding against the world’s largest social media company. The Warsaw court’s classification of Meta as an active advertiser adds a layer of complexity that extends well beyond Poland’s borders, as it could fundamentally reshape how platforms monetize advertising across EU jurisdictions.

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