Cyberattacks and Disinformation: Poland Accuses Russia of Election Interference
Polish authorities have accused Moscow of attempting to interfere in the country’s presidential election campaign, warning that Russia is using cyberattacks and coordinated disinformation to influence the May 18 vote, The Gaze reports, citing The Telegraph.
According to Poland’s NASK, the national research institute specializing in cyber security, the interference attempts closely mirror operations previously conducted in Romania, Germany, Moldova, and Georgia.
NASK stated on Thursday that it had uncovered “new information operations aimed at destabilising the electoral process” in Poland. “The analysis concerned the activity of a network of hundreds of fake accounts on the X network which in a coordinated manner spread messages consistent with the Russian Federation’s propaganda,” the institute said in a statement.
These narratives, according to NASK, were also detected on Telegram, published by “accounts known for their participation in Russian disinformation activity.” The content of these posts focused on topics likely to polarize Polish voters, including security, foreign policy, migration, and the socioeconomic situation.
On Wednesday, NASK also reported it had detected political ads on Facebook “that may be financed from abroad,” adding, “The materials were displayed in Poland. The advertising accounts involved in the campaign spent more on political materials in the last 7 days than any election committee.”
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, denied any foreign interference stating that their investigation “has confirmed that the admin associated with these pages is authentic and based in Poland. We have seen no evidence of foreign interference.”
Poland’s digital affairs ministry reported in April that Russian cyberattacks against the country had intensified. Earlier this month, Polish authorities claimed they had proof that Moscow was behind a devastating fire at the Marywilska 44 shopping centre in Warsaw.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also said his party’s computer system had been targeted by a cyberattack, describing it as “foreign interference.”
As The Gaze previously reported, Poland's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digitalisation Krzysztof Gawkowski said that the country is facing an unprecedented attempt by Russia to interfere in the presidential election.
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