WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland said on Wednesday it had uncovered what could be an attempt to interfere in its presidential election campaign using advertisements on Facebook that may have been financed from abroad.
The first round of the election takes place on Sunday, pitting liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, a senior member of the ruling Civic Platform party, against historian Karol Nawrocki, who runs Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance, and far-right Slawomir Mentzen.
“The NASK Disinformation Analysis Center has identified political ads on the Facebook platform that may be financed from abroad. The materials were displayed in Poland,” NASK, the national research institute dealing with cybersecurity, said in a statement.
“The advertising accounts involved in the campaign spent more on political materials in the last 7 days than any election committee.”
NASK did not say which country the financing might have come from.
Poland has previously said that its role as a hub for aid to Ukraine makes it a prime target for Russian espionage, sabotage and cyberattacks.
Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has denied previous allegations of meddling in foreign elections.
(Reporting by Karol Badohal and Alan Charlish, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
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