Facebook broke the law. He cannot censor at his own discretion. A landmark judgment was passed in Poland

By blocking the accounts and groups of the Social Initiative for Narcopolitics (SIN), Meta (Facebook’s parent company) violated the organization’s personal rights – the District Court in Warsaw ruled on Wednesday, March 13. The court obliged Meta to restore the blocked content and publicly apologize to SIN for the unjust blocking of accounts and groups on Facebook and Instagram – writes Panoptykon.org in the quoted press release sent to our editorial office. The judgment is not final.

The first such trial in Poland. Facebook can’t do whatever it wants

The SIN vs. Facebook case is the first trial in Poland regarding the so-called private censorship on Facebook and Instagram and the first case resolved in favor of an organization opposing arbitrary blocking.

The court clearly stated: Facebook cannot block users without justification and without giving them the opportunity to effectively challenge decisions if they disagree with them. Such action is unlawful

– comments Dorota Głowacka, a lawyer from the Panoptykon Foundation, who has been substantively dealing with this case since 2019.

So far, decisions to block an account were often made arbitrarily and in practice were difficult to question. Any attempts to appeal against them were rather reminiscent of Kafka’s trial. We hope that now, thanks to the court’s verdict, we will no longer be helpless in the face of private censorship

– he adds. However, the lawyer notes that Meta should not wait for the court’s ruling in this case to make changes to moderation. In August 2023, the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) came into force, which imposes, among other things, specific responsibilities related to content moderation on large platforms.

Theoretically, the situation SIN found itself in – blocked without the possibility of appeal – should not happen to anyone else. Today, the law clearly states that platforms must explain their decisions to remove content or reduce its visibility and create appropriate appeals procedures for users. However, Głowacka emphasizes the importance of the judgment in paving the way for justice for people injured by unjust blocking of their accounts. – Equally important, the court confirmed that we have the right to sue global platforms in Poland on the basis of Polish law, and not – as Meta argued – only in Ireland – adds the lawyer.

Panoptykon sued Facebook. The case dragged on for the past six years

SIN is a social organization dedicated to promoting knowledge about the harmful effects of psychoactive substances and helping people who use such substances. Its purpose is, among others, reducing the harm caused by the consumption of stimulants. In 2018, Facebook removed SIN pages and groups without warning or explanation, deeming them “not compliant with its Community Standards.” In January 2019, one of the organization’s Instagram accounts, which also belongs to Meta, was deleted on similar terms.

– Our fanpage was deleted without warning, without an explanation why we were being censored and without information about which content violated community standards. We were also not given the opportunity to make a real appeal. Years of our work and memories recorded on the website were at the mercy of corporate whim – comments the SIN spokesman and explains why the disappearance from social media was such a strong blow to the organization’s activities: – Facebook was SIN’s primary communication channel, but most importantly – it was also a mine of knowledge in the field of harm reduction, addiction prevention and information about psychoactive substances. A popular fan page with information from over 7 years of activity could better reach people in need, and the knowledge collected on it could minimize risk and protect health.

On May 7, 2019, the Social Initiative of Narcopolitics, supported by the Panoptykon Foundation, filed a lawsuit in court demanding a public apology from Facebook and restoring access to deleted pages and accounts. In June 2019, SIN obtained security for the claim. The court ordered Facebook to retain all data from the organization’s deleted profile for the duration of the trial, and also prohibited deleting content from the organization’s new account. Facebook questioned both the jurisdiction of the Polish court (maintaining that the court in Ireland had jurisdiction) and the language of the lawsuit (SIN had to pay almost PLN 9,000 for the official translation of the lawsuit into English).