The Polish justice ministry has drawn up a bill which it says aims to protect freedom of speech on the internet and give users the right to appeal if their posts are removed. Under the bill, social media platforms would not be allowed either to block users or remove content if these do not violate Polish laws.
If content is removed or an account blocked, the user would have the right to file a complaint with the social platform, which would have 48 hours to review it. Users would also have the right to appeal to a new body called the Freedom of Speech Council. The council, which would be established by the planned bill, would have seven days to review the appeal. The Freedom of Speech Council would consist of five members appointed for a six-year term by a three-fifths majority of votes by the lower house of the Polish parliament. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that social media platform owners “cannot operate above the law”.
Poland is set to reopen schools for its youngest children as the winter break comes to an end. After a switch to remote classes prompted by the COVID-19 epidemic, children in grades 1 to 3 of elementary education will be able to return to on-site learning on Monday, Poland’s education minister has said.
He added that under sanitary rules for schools, lessons will be held in one room for one group, with breaks for different classes held at different times. The minister said that he would like all pupils to return to on-site learning, especially those preparing for their final school exams, but that depended on the epidemiological situation in the country. He added that “distance learning can never replace regular lessons.”
A German MEP has said that Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Europe is an „anti-European project” and a „lever of Putin’s geopolitical influence”.
The MEP with the German Green Party, told Poland’s PAP news agency in an interview that she was outraged over the resumption of work to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which is opposed by Poland and a number of other countries. „What’s happening around Nord Stream 2…is nothing short of political corruption,” she said, referring to a plan unveiled by officials in a north-eastern German state for a foundation controlled by Russian gas giant Gazprom and aiming to protect companies involved in the project against US sanctions.
And finally, the vice president of the largest housing co-operative in Gdańsk, Henryk Talaśka, has been caught on tape ordering the inflicting of damage to staircases in a block of flights, in order to claim insurance money and also of trying to hide the presence of asbestos in a kindergarten at another block of flats.
The blocks under the management of the company have 6,500 flats, in which over 20,000 people live. It manages a budget of PLN 140 million and land of 70 hectares. The exposé published on the onet.pl website has published recordings taken by a former employee over a 6 month period. The District Prosecutor’s Office in Gdańsk is examining the allegations.
Weather
Today will be a cloudy day with the chance of heavy snow showers during the day and a moderate to fresh breeze and temperatures reaching -1 degrees centigrade (30 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day, dropping to -12 degrees overnight. Sunday will be a cloudy and extremely cold day with temperatures will reach -11 degrees centigrade during the day and -12 degrees overnight.
Martin Caren/ako
