Poland's Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski has asked the European Commission to fine social media giant Meta 250 million euros over fraudulent deepfake advertisements targeting Polish citizens.
Gawkowski submitted an official letter to European Union regulators demanding the 1 billion zloty penalty under the Digital Services Act, announcing the move on social network X.
The minister stated that inactivity and inefficiency in tackling fraudulent content and advertisements harming Poles would not be tolerated. He urged Meta to deploy effective tools to remove scam ads, false promotion, and illegal applications, adding that the wild west on the platform must end.
Poland pressed for the European Union investigation following a multi-year campaign by Rafal Brzoska, the founder and chief executive of parcel locker network InPost, who has repeatedly targeted Meta over scam advertisements on its platforms.
Deepfake scams target Polish billionaire
Speaking at a conference on Thursday, Brzoska welcomed the government's action and expressed gratitude for the minister's continuous involvement. However, Brzoska said he hoped the 250 million euro penalty would apply to each European Union member state, arguing that only multi-billion euro sanctions could compel Meta to take meaningful action.
Brzoska and his wife, Omena Mensah, have long been the primary targets of large-scale financial scams across Facebook and Instagram in Poland. Fraudsters repeatedly published advertisements using deepfakes, which are artificially generated audio and video files manipulating Brzoska's face and voice.
The fake advertisements falsely depicted the billionaire urging Polish citizens to invest in lucrative schemes that were actually financial pyramids designed to steal money. Fraudsters also spread fake news stories claiming Mensah had been beaten or killed to attract user attention, according to Polish fact-checking portal media.demagog.org.pl.
Brzoska built InPost into one of Central Europe's largest logistics firms, expanding automated parcel lockers across Poland and international markets. Meta, the US tech corporation based in Menlo Park, California, operates Facebook and Instagram, which generate revenue by serving targeted advertisements to billions of global users.
Court rulings and legal battles
Despite repeated demands from Brzoska to remove the impersonation ads, moderation on Meta's platforms moved extremely slowly. Meta defended its position by describing itself as a passive host that bears no legal responsibility for the actions of advertisers.
In response, Brzoska lodged a complaint with Poland's Personal Data Protection Office, UODO. In August 2024, the regulator ordered Meta to immediately block fake advertisements featuring the billionaire for a three-month period.
The legal pressure escalated in April 2026 when the Warsaw Court of Appeals ruled Meta accountable for paid advertising on its platforms. The court determined that the company directly profits from verifying and displaying commercial advertisements.
Brzoska is pushing for new legislative rules that would force offending platforms to pay 150 percent of their local fraudulent ad revenue into a state fund to compensate victims of online financial fraud. He also plans to launch a dedicated tool to report and track scam ads, stating that citizens should not wait for regulations from Brussels or Digital Services Act rules that fail to function against Meta.
Global scrutiny and financial impact
Meta faces widespread legal challenges over deceptive celebrity ads, as reported by Bloomberg. Australian businessman Andrew Forrest filed a lawsuit alleging that Meta managed and profited from scam ads featuring his image, while British financial broadcaster Martin Lewis sued the company in 2018 over similar fraudulent promotions before reaching a settlement in 2019.
Internal company documents revealed in a 2025 Reuters report indicated Meta estimated that 10 percent of its 2024 revenue originated from fraudulent ads and prohibited goods. A Meta spokesperson stated at the time that the internal calculation was approximate and overly inclusive.
On August 25, Meta informed the Polish Ministry of Digital Affairs of plans to expand advertiser verification to reduce fraudulent ad attempts, but ministry officials rejected the measure as insufficient. The latest Polish demand follows a July decision by the European Commission finding Meta in breach of the Digital Services Act over addictive design features on Instagram and Facebook.
The regulatory clash also comes as Meta agreed on August 26 to pay up to 16.7 billion dollars to settle a consolidated lawsuit brought in California by a coalition of 29 US state attorneys general over social media harms.
