The government of Poland put forward a new law following the social media ban of users, which is considered as a breach of free speech, that is ongoing in the world. The new law aims to put a restriction on the companies of social media on restricting users from using their platforms or deleting their posts. This is in consideration that the users do not breach the laws of Poland.
The Free Speech Bill
According to the points stated in the newly proposed bill, any sort of violations with regard to its policies will lead to the monetary loss of social media companies. In case the social networks happen to cause any irregularity in the free speech of the public within Poland, they will have to pay a price for it. They will be made to pay up to 50 million zlotych, which is 13.4 million USD, in case they are unable to restore the posts that have been deleted by them or the accounts blocked by them.
The bill is referred to as the “freedom of speech protection”. It was announced by the Justice Minister of Poland, Zbigniew Ziobro. As the name suggests, it is introduced to protect free speech in the country. It was announced this Friday, the 15th of January, 2021. There will also be the establishment of a council to look into the matter, as per the law. The name of the council is the “freedom of speech council.”
The council will be given some powers to regulate the policies mentioned in the free speech bill. They will have the authority to regulate social media companies, especially Facebook and Twitter, to retrieve an account that has been deleted by them, or to unblock the account of a user after a review. This information was made known by the Polish Justice Minister.
