Polish authorities announced on Wednesday that they have identified what appears to be a possible attempt to influence the country’s presidential election through social media ads potentially funded from outside the country.
This discovery comes amid heightened vigilance across Europe regarding election security. Concerns have grown especially after Romania halted its presidential election late last year over allegations of external interference—accusations that were strongly denied by the accused nation.
Poland’s first round of presidential voting is scheduled for Sunday. The main contenders include Rafal Trzaskowski, the liberal mayor of Warsaw and a key figure in the Civic Platform party; Karol Nawrocki, a historian and head of the Institute of National Remembrance; and Slawomir Mentzen, a far-right nationalist candidate.
The NASK Disinformation Analysis Center, part of a national research institute focused on cybersecurity, reported that political advertisements had appeared on Facebook in Poland and might have been backed by international sources. According to NASK, these ad accounts spent more on political messaging in the past week than any official campaign committee.
NASK noted that while the ads seemed to support a particular candidate, their real purpose could have been to harm that candidate’s image and create instability. Andrzej Kozlowski, who leads NASK’s narrative analysis and fact-checking unit, stated in an interview on state television that the ads attacked Nawrocki and Mentzen while appearing to favor Trzaskowski—possibly as part of a larger deceptive strategy.
The organization has flagged the relevant accounts to Facebook’s parent company, Meta, requesting they be blocked. It also alerted Poland’s Internal Security Agency, and investigations are underway to determine the source and funding of the ads.
Meta has yet to respond to the inquiry regarding the issue.
Polish officials have previously emphasized that the country’s prominent role in supporting Ukraine since the 2022 invasion has made it a significant target for espionage, sabotage, and cyber threats.
Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said recently that Poland is experiencing an “unprecedented effort to manipulate its electoral process,” possibly involving significant financial investment. He acknowledged that hundreds of thousands of zlotys had been spent on the suspicious ads but said it was too early to definitively identify who was behind them.
Past allegations of election interference by foreign powers have been repeatedly denied by those accused.
