Poland

[PL] The National Broadcasting Council publishes a new guide for influencers

IRIS 2026-4:1/24

Agnieszka Grzesiok-Horosz

University of Silesia in Katowice

On 26 February 2026, the Polish the National Broadcasting Council (Krajowa Rada Radiofonii i Telewizji – KRRiT) held a conference entitled “Influencers 2026 – responsibility in the light of Internet coverage”. The subject discussed was the liability of nearly 800 000 digital content creators operating in Poland, who are significant participants in the media market. The first thematic panel featured experts in the Internet industry, creators and organisations dealing with fact-checking and media education. The second part of the conference concerned regulatory challenges and certain aspects of "sharenting", namely the posting of photos, videos or information on their child on social media.

One of KRRiT’s missions is to plan educational activities addressed at influencers. One of these activities resulted in the publication of the guide entitled “Responsibility, transparency, credibility – the new guide for influencers” prepared by the Internet Content Creators Division of the Multimedia Department, which had a premiere at the 26 February conference. The guide explains the obligations of online creators offering content on audiovisual media services on demand (VOD). It specifies in detail on whom particular obligations have been imposed. These are online content creators conducting business activities and publicly sharing audiovisual programmes (videos) on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok or Facebook with a content catalogue, whereby viewers can decide what and when they want to watch (on demand). The guide indicates the benefits of registration and also the consequences of a failure to register, such as initiating administrative proceedings and a financial penalty of up to PLN 180 000.

The guide explains the obligations of influencers in a simple way. Obligations notably include ensuring easy, direct and permanent  access to basic information about the VOD provider, including: name, address, jurisdictional body, and lists of channels/videos that can be viewed.

The guide also provides information about the classification and labelling of certain content. The Polish Broadcasting Act implementing Directive 2018/1808 prohibits content harmful to the physical, mental or moral development of minors, and requires classification and labelling of content aimed at specific age groups. Category I involves no age restrictions, the content is suitable for all, including children. Category II is for younger teenagers, aged twelve or over. Category III – sixteen plus – includes content for older teenagers. Category IV is only suitable for adults (over eighteen) and therefore requires adding a letter rating: P for violent content (“przemoc” in Polish), S for sex, W for vulgar language, and N for drugs (“narkotyki” in Polish), and a key symbol or the number 18. A copy of materials, programmes and commercial communications must be kept by influencers for at least 28 days after they have been removed or rendered unavailable.

Advertisements for cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, psychotropic substances and intoxicants are prohibited under Polish law. As far as other products are concerned, the guide explains methods of clear labelling for advertisements and other commercial communications.

The guide also reminds influencers that a report on the fulfilment of statutory duties for the previous year must be sent to KRRiT by the end of March each year. In January 2026 KRRiT prepared a form for such reports. Influencers qualifying as VOD providers are required to provide certain information, namely: the name of the service, full name of the VOD provider, names of partners, addresses and contact details, including email addresses and the website address. The guide also provides that a copy of the tax return with information on annual revenues and related costs must be submitted annually to KRRiT within 15 days from the date of submission of the return to the tax office.

Influencers are also obliged to protect minors, promote European programmes, and to ensure accessibility of content for persons with disabilities, which does not apply to services with fewer than two million users.

An important part of KRRiT’s guide relates to “good practices”. KRRiT is aware of safe “sharenting” rules in social media. Also the labelling of advertisements should be clear and legible. Influencers may use hashtags and descriptions such as #partnership, #sponsoredcontent, #selfpromotion, providing information about commercial content.

The guide under review follows a first edition published in November 2025 by the Internet Content Creators Division of KRRiT, for online creators.

Such initiatives of the Polish regulator are intended to disseminate knowledge more widely and increase the responsibility of content creators, as well as to improve transparency and communication standards on the Internet.